


Give Him Your Heart (he will give you his)

by AlexiaBlackbriar13



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, Animal Abuse, Animal Torture, Animal Transformation, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Baby Sara - Freeform, Canon Compliant, Come for the adorableness and stay for the crippling emotional pain, Cuddling & Snuggling, Depression, Dogs, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Established Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Oliver, Justice for Baby Sara, Kidnapping, Mental Health Issues, Nightmares, Oliver Queen Has PTSD, Oliver is turned into a puppy, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-4x05, Psychological Trauma, Puppies, Puppy Oliver Queen, Puppy Oliver being a complete and total badass, Puppy Oliver playing fetch, Puppy Oliver playing with baby Sara, Season/Series 04, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Torture, Whilst also being a huge mess, she's a really sweet cat, there is a cat now as well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2018-05-29 11:41:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 77,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6373354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexiaBlackbriar13/pseuds/AlexiaBlackbriar13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After an encounter with a metahuman that can turn humans into animals, Oliver ends up being turned into an animal that, in his opinion, least represents his personality, leaving him annoyed, slightly scared and a lot furrier and cuter than normal. Felicity and Team Arrow just can’t get over how adorable he is.</p><p>(Or, alternatively, that one time in which Oliver was transformed into a puppy for a week.)</p><p>
  <b>Epilogue (1) Posted!</b>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. ~ Part 1 ~

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Easter :) I wrote this entire fic as a present to my wonderful and fantastic followers and readers, who have supported me since the very beginning of my Arrow fanfic writing career, including GenieWithWifi, Melsanfo, Bushlaboo and thatmasquedgirl and many others. You guys will never be able to comprehend how much I appreciate you all, but I hope I can give a little back here. The fabulously incredible CheerUpLovely (@yespleasehawkeye on tumblr) has been supporting me throughout the writing of this, and has beta’d and read it over for me. Thank you, Sammy! I hope you all enjoy!
> 
> (And after you read Part 1, I might, _might_ , take some little requests XD) Because guess what? There are going to be 5 Parts. Because I cannot stop writing puppy!Oliver.)

* * *

Felicity usually would have been mad that the team weren’t responding to her frantic questions over the comms after they had cut out during their fight against a metahuman, except she was more confused than anything, due to the fact that they were all too busy falling over laughing to answer her.

“Guys, what’s going on?” She asked worriedly. “John? Laurel? Oliver?”

“Oliver can’t - he can’t talk at the moment, Felicity,” Thea gasped through her laughs, causing Laurel to snort and start laughing even harder.

“What happened?” She questioned in concern, trying to find some CCTV cameras to hack into so she could get a look at the scene, but finding all of them had been smashed during the fight. “Guys! I’m serious! I’m completely blind here!”

John finally answered her, managing through his chuckling, “O-Oliver got whammied by the metahuman.”

“Oh god.” Her heart sank, and then the anger came. “John, I don’t know what’s going on here! We don’t even know what powers that metahuman had, please tell me he’s okay!” If Oliver was hurt and they were all too busy laughing to help him, there was no power on earth or in heaven that would stop her from slapping the hell out of them all.

“Your boyfriend’s fine, Felicity,” Laurel told her, snickering. “The metahuman’s powers - he can turn people into animals.”

Felicity blinked, taking in the information, and then she clapped a hand to her mouth in shock, exclaiming loudly, “Oh my _god_!”

* * *

Felicity desperately tried to keep a straight face as Thea, Laurel and Diggle came into the Lair’s main room from the garage. Without her even having to ask, John pulled a wriggling bundle out of his weapons duffle bag and dumped the cutest, tiniest husky puppy Felicity had ever seen down onto the conference table. They stood in silence for a few seconds as the puppy collapsed on his haunches, cocked his head sideways and blinked up at her with bright blue eyes, before Felicity had to cover her mouth to muffle a snigger, that triggered everybody else to start laughing.

“Oh my god,” she wheezed, staring down at the puppy with wide eyes. “Oliver, you’re - _you’re so cute_!”

The puppy furrowed his eyebrows at her, his overly large ears pressing back against his skull. Oliver gave a tiny growl, that was the most adorable thing Felicity had ever heard. It only made her laugh harder. Oliver bounded to his teeny tiny paws and began barking angrily at her, but his howls were so high in pitch that she actually started crying with laughter as she tried to compare them to Oliver’s usual low, gruff voice.

Everybody had to sit down at that point because they couldn’t stay on their feet anymore; their knees were going weak from laughing so much, and all of them had tears in their eyes. Thea and Laurel were actually having to clutch each other for support because they couldn’t get enough air in. The puppy huffed irritatedly and turned away, striding to the edge of the table and wiggling his butt as he prepared himself to jump down.

“Whoa, Oliver, no puppy parkour,” Felicity protested, managing to miraculously catch her boyfriend in puppy form while he was mid jump and pulling him to her chest protectively. He could seriously injure himself from a jump that height. But as soon as Felicity was holding him in her arms, he wriggled furiously and whimpered for her to put him down.

She did so, carefully placing him on the floor and keeping an eye on Oliver as he went bounding off towards the stairs up to Felicity’s computer platform. “Oliver, be careful, okay? You’re only a puppy right now and we really don’t need you getting injured.” Already halfway up the stairs, he turned to her and huffed, unimpressed. “Don’t look at me like that. You’re tiny, you could really easily hurt yourself.”

John commented, still snickering as Oliver gave another huff and returned to trying to climb the stairs, “Who would have ever imagined Oliver Queen, the badass vigilante, as a husky puppy?”

“Yeah, I mean, I would have at least imagined a fully-grown dog,” Thea laughed.

Felicity slowly followed Oliver up the stairs as he clambered up them, one step at a time, making small happy chuffs each time he managed to heave himself up one. He was about to slip off a stair and fall back onto his behind when she caught him, supporting him with a soft, “I did say to be careful,” before helping him up the last two stairs.

Glancing back at the others, she asked, “Do we know how long he’s going to be like this?” She paused. “Not that I’m complaining, because he’s really cute right now.” Oliver wheeled around and yapped frustratedly at her, and she put her hands up in the surrender position with a grin. “I can’t lie that you’re adorable, Oliver! But we should probably find out how long he’s going to be stuck in puppy form.”

“We could ask Team Flash to come over,” Diggle suggested, watching Oliver with a smirk as the husky puppy tried to jump up onto Felicity’s chair and epically failed, landing with a thump and a whine. As Felicity picked him up with a smile and placed him on the chair helpfully, John continued, “They’re the experts with metahumans, afterall. We could use Barry’s help taking down the guy as well, considering Oliver’s - you know. Not exactly able to be the Green Arrow at the moment.”

Mirth sparked in Laurel’s eyes as she chuckled, “I can’t wait to tell my dad about this.”

There was a flash and Felicity turned around from where she was watching the husky puppy to see John standing with his cell phone out, taking pictures. “John!”

“Ooh, send that one to me!” Laurel gushed, looking over his shoulder to look at the photo. “That’s going to be my new background.”

There was a loud, alarming beep from her nearest computer and Felicity startled. “Okay, mister, come here.” Oliver was smacking his paws into her keyboard and messing up one of her algorithms, so she scooped him up and cradled him to his chest as she walked them back down to the rest of the team, keeping a tight hold on him when he whined and tried to escape again. “No more computers for you.”

“I’ll ask Barry, Caitlin and Cisco to pick up some puppy stuff on their way here,” Diggle told them, as Thea and Laurel fawned over the tiny husky. He sniggered and when they shot him a questioning look, he said, “All I can think of right now is Oliver holed up in a puppy play pen in the corner.”

Felicity was content to just hold Oliver in her arms, but she could see Thea gazing at her brother in puppy form with large, awed eyes so she held him out and said, “Here, have a puppy,” before shoving Oliver into Thea’s arms.

“Aww,” Thea crooned, one arm holding the squirming Oliver as the other came up to stroke down his back. Felicity winced internally when she saw Oliver flinch in response, his eyes filled with anger and hurt at being humiliated like this. “Aren’t you the cutest lil’ puppy ever? Gonna get you a load of toys and some nice treats -”

“He’s still Oliver, Thea,” John smirked. “I doubt very much that he’s going to play fetch with you.”

“Yeah, we’ll see about that,” Thea muttered as she hugged her brother to her chest tightly. Oliver seemed to have had enough of the affection and petting, however, and let out a yelp and tried to scramble away. Thea clutched at him fearfully as he almost fell and asked frantically, “What do I do?”

“Put him down on the floor,” Felicity responded quickly.

As soon as his paws hit the ground, Oliver made a mad dash for it. Diggle tried to reach down and stop him but even in puppy form, Oliver was pretty quick, and he dodged all of their grabbing hands and scrambled under one of the couches in the communal area. Looking guilty, Thea suggested that she and Laurel contact Team Flash whilst Diggle and Felicity tried to get Oliver to come back out again.

Kneeling down and then lowering herself to the floor so she was lying on her front, Felicity squinted into the darkness of under the couch and managed to catch sight of the husky puppy. He was shaking terribly, whimpering and refusing to re-emerge. It sent pangs shooting through her heart when the blonde CEO realised - they had all been so caught up fawning over Oliver as a puppy that they had forgotten that he was touch sensitive. It must have been scary too, suddenly finding yourself stuck in puppy form, with all your friends and family becoming giants around you and picking you up and passing you around to pet.

“Shh, it’s okay, Oliver,” she reassured him gently. “We won’t pick you up anymore, I promise. Well, we won’t pick you up without telling you, or without a proper reason. You can come out.” When the puppy still seemed hesitant, she whispered, “Thea and Laurel are gone, it’s just me and John. I swear, Oliver, we won’t stroke you or anything.”

With his tail between his legs and head lowered, Oliver finally came out, crawling into Felicity’s lap as he made a mewling sound. Knowing she had just promised not to stroke him, Felicity placed one of her hands gently on his back to offer some support. With another whimper, he jumped up onto his hind legs and put his forepaws on her shoulder, giving her cheek a tentative lick, scraping her skin with his rough puppy tongue, making her close her eyes and smile. As John settled down beside her, cross-legged, looking vaguely apologetic at having laughed so much at his friend’s condition, Oliver dragged his tiny form onto his lap as well and rubbed his side all over John’s stomach.

Felicity’s phone beeped and she checked it. “Laurel and Thea got hold of Caitlin, she and the team are coming down tomorrow, should be here by noon. That’s good news.” She stifled a yawn behind her hand.

“It’s late,” John said in a hushed voice. “You two should probably head home.”

“You too, you have a wife and adorable toddler waiting for you,” Felicity smiled. She glanced down at Oliver and informed him quietly, “We have to go home now, so I have to pick you up, okay?” He nodded, ears twitching, and she reached down and carefully lifted him up to her chest, cradling him there as she grabbed her car keys, jacket and purse. “Goodnight, John.”

“‘Night, Felicity. ‘Night, Oliver,” he added on the end with a smile.

Oliver didn’t squirm in her arms as much as he had the right to on the journey to her company provided car (the Porsche wasn’t exactly inconspicuous for a CEO) and he kept his face buried against her shoulder, paws slightly wrapped around her neck. Felicity made a nest on the passenger seat out of some spare blankets from the trunk and set the husky puppy down into it carefully, smiling when he blinked wide cerulean eyes up at her, panting slightly, tongue lolling out of his mouth. It didn’t take long to reach the Loft, and she only carried him until she reached the door, at which point she put him down on the floor to let him make his own way around their apartment.

“Be careful, okay?” She told him, holding him back with one hand on his chest, kneeling beside him. “Seriously, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

He barked once in response and she released him. Her heart swelled and she had to bite her lip to stop herself from going, ‘aww’ when the first thing Oliver did was run over and try to climb up onto one of the couches, digging his little claws into the blanket half hanging off of it from their cuddle session the night before but instead causing it to fall down on top of him.

She was about to laugh when he yowled so loudly that she thought he might wake up the entire building’s occupants. The blanket wrapped puppy stumbled over, obviously trying to get to her for help, and when after another two seconds he wasn't freed, he howled furiously again. Rushing over, she yanked the blanket off him and immediately his yowling stopped and he gazed up at her, tilting his head again.

She closed her eyes. _Great._ Her boyfriend, in puppy form, was afraid of the dark.

She sighed. “What am I going to do with you,” she muttered.

He started jumping at her legs and then he ran over to the fridge, pausing. She raised her eyebrows. He growled and then ran over to her again, batted at her leg with one paw and hurried back over to the fridge, sitting down in front of it and batting at the door with the same paw.

“You hungry?” Luckily Oliver had cooked some bacon for breakfast that morning and there was some left over. She snagged two pieces and crouched to pass them to him. “Here you go.” He wolfed them down within seconds then looked back up at her. “More? Seriously?” 

She allowed him to have the last two pieces before she started rooting around in the cupboards for a plastic bowl to take upstairs with them when they went to bed. He often got thirsty in the night in human form, and she guessed that would still happen in puppy form. She finally found one, blue in colour; Oliver had made sure that they had plastic cutlery and plates and bowls for when they babysat little Sara for John and Lyla, and it seemed her boyfriend hadn’t been lying when he had said they would be useful.

“Okay, Oliver, up to bed.” She gave him another quick warning before scooping him up again in one arm, the empty bowl held in her other hand and she grabbed their snuggle blanket when passing the couch. But then she paused at the stairs. “Wait, are you house trained? I don't have to buy puppy pads or anything, do I?” He gave her such an offended, unimpressed look that she realised instantly that was a stupid question. “Right, I, uh… just assumed that in puppy form, you might, uh…” Seeing his still stoic face, she muttered, “Never mind.”

She left the puppy on the bed before getting changed into sweatpants and a ratty t-shirt in the bathroom, preparing for bed and also filling up the bowl with a small amount of water. Oliver was waiting for her, flopped on his side, but he immediately leapt up when she re-entered the room, his tiny tail wagging at a hundred miles per hour. Placing the bowl on the ground, Felicity fell onto her side of the bed before arranging the blanket into a nest-like bundle and patting it for Oliver to climb into.

Instead, he ignored it and clambered up onto her stomach and curled into a ball, refusing to move.

“Oliver,” she protested.

He opened one bleary eye and shot her a look that basically said, _I’m not moving_.

She frowned. “You’re heavy,” she whined. “But you’re tiny. Get off.”

He just crawled further up her stomach and settled there, yawning and closing his eyes. It became pretty obvious that he wasn’t going to move.

“Fine,” she muttered, placing one hand down onto Oliver’s back to keep him secure as she dragged the comforter over her. Then, frowning, she threaded her fingers gently through his thick fur, noting, “Wow, your fur is really soft.”

He growled softly, but he broke it off with a tired yawn, snuggling back down into her shirt. He didn’t seem to be openly opposing the idea of her stroking down his back, so she continued with a hum, reaching out to the switch on the side wall to turn the lights off. Once they were bathed in darkness, it only took a few minutes before Oliver was whimpering, his tiny form trembling slightly. She hushed him gently and buried both her hands in his soft fur, her heart breaking as she felt his tensed muscles and shivering form, but as soon as she brushed her hands through his pelt, he just seemed to melt, relaxing.

“I’m right here, Oliver,” she whispered.

Within moments, he was crawling up her stomach, digging his tiny claws into her skin, making her wince. He wiggled between her boobs awkwardly, making her squeak in protest, but then he curled up on her upper chest with his head buried underneath her chin. He was like a big furry, reasonably heavy scarf.

“Oliver, you’re going to crush my chest in your sleep,” she complained. When he didn’t move, another tremor passing through his form, she sighed in reluctant acceptance. “Alright, you can stay there.” There was a wet scraping feeling under her chin and she jerked in response. “Oh god, are you licking my neck?! Ew, Oliver! Okay, this isn’t going to -” She lifted his tiny body and placed him on her upper stomach just underneath her boobs, supporting him there with both of her hands.

Very hesitantly, after a moment, Felicity wrapped her arms around him. He tensed at first but then immediately relaxed into it. He really was like a living, breathing furry hot water bottle. His weight on her stomach was actually quite soothing. She gently stroked down his spine, sighing out heavily, closing her eyes in exhaustion.

“There. Sleep there. Good night, Oliver.”

He gave a small rumble in an answering, _Good night_ , before the two of them finally lapsed into silence, falling back into restful darkness.

* * *

The next morning was pretty uneventful. Oliver had finally got to sleep the night before and when Felicity had woken up, she had found him eagle spread across her face, snoring but also half suffocating her. She managed to move him so he was on her chest instead, taking large gasps for air and spitting out tiny tuffs of fur he had shed throughout the night. His peaceful, blissed out little face was so adorable that she had to try and take a photo, except by the time she stretched over to grab her phone from the nightstand, the puppy was awake, dancing around on top of her, making her yelp. Felicity didn’t think she had ever seen Oliver so full of energy as he dashed madly around the Loft, waiting for Felicity prepare breakfast.

Her first three attempts at frying bacon, however, failed epically. “I think the most important reason for you to turn back into a human is so that you can make sure I don’t starve,” she complained as she gave up, turning to the cereal cabinet. “You need to teach me how to cook, Oliver.” The husky puppy scratched at her legs, whining. “Sorry, honey, I know you’re hungry, but I don’t think cereal’s healthy for dogs. I’ll just have to text Diggle and ask him to bring you some breakfast.”

After that, Felicity was forced to drop Oliver off with Diggle in the Lair, as she and Curtis had to make a presentation to some potential investors for Palmer Tech. She also had to stop by Oliver's mayoral campaign office and lie to Alex, his political advisor, and say that Oliver had serious flu, so wouldn’t be able to come into work. Diggle must have sensed her concern about leaving her boyfriend in puppy form with the team, because he reassured her quietly that he had told Laurel and Thea to tone down their fawning and to stop picking Oliver up without warning him first. He informed her he had put emphasis on the point not to stroke him without permission, reminding them about his touch sensitivity.

The husky puppy had appeared immensely upset when Felicity told him she had to leave for a few hours, whining and pawing at her legs, and it broke her heart to leave him. However, Diggle distracted him with some sausages, grinning, and the blonde CEO was able to make her escape.

When she returned three hours later, exhausted and mentally drained, but thrilled as the potential investors were no longer just potential, and Oliver was safely off work for the next few days, she was shocked to see Oliver playing around on the floor with Diggle and some sort of dog toy. Laurel and Thea were videoing it on their phones nearby and sniggering.

Diggle glanced up at her footsteps and his face broke into a wide grin. “Oh man, you gotta see this, Felicity.”

The husky puppy sat obediently on his haunches, ears erect and nose twitching as Diggle lunged over on all fours to grab a squeaky ball (obviously bought by Thea, judging by its lovely shade of bright pink) and place it on the floor around a metre away from where Oliver was sitting. The puppy blinked his large blue eyes at Diggle curiously as the man drew away, pulling back so that Felicity could see from a good angle. However, it was also obviously so that he wasn’t in the way of Laurel’s camera. Felicity leant back against the conference table, arms crossed, and she raised an eyebrow.

“Watch this.” Diggle was giving her the biggest smirk she had ever received when he crouched down next to Oliver, placing a friendly hand on his friend’s back. Then, he ordered firmly, “Okay, Oliver… sneak attack.”

The puppy responded instantly, leaping to his paws but staying exactly in the same place as he slunk into what Felicity recognised as a hunter’s crouch. His tiny butt was wriggling in the air, his tail wagging back and forth frantically. Felicity had to fight back her laughter as Oliver let out a tiny growl, his eyes fixed on the ball as he crept closer and closer, very slowly. Then, with a mighty spring, he pounced onto the ball, pinning it with his paws. He batted at it angrily and barked continuously for around ten seconds before he released the toy and started sprinting crazily around the Lair, stumbling over his massive paws.

Felicity finally burst into laughter when Oliver skidded to a halt in front of her and sat down calmly. His tongue lolled out of his mouth as he panted, and he puffed his chest out proudly, seemingly delighted that he had been able to sneak up and pounce on an inanimate squeaky dog toy.

“Wow, Oliver,” she managed to get out, holding most of her chuckles in as she crouched down beside him and rested a hand on his scruff. “That was really… _something_.”

He barked happily, almost jumping up and down, and then he got distracted by his own tail and started chasing after it, swivelling round and round and round, snapping at it. Her laughter burst out of her chest. Diggle, Thea and Laurel looked equally amused. After a few minutes of chasing his own tail, Oliver finally caught it with a small yelp and calmed down, panting for air, before he sat down contently and scratched his side with his hindpaw. It was his nonchalant expression that did the entire team in again, making Diggle snort and the girls’ eyes water due to their laughter.

“I’m never going to let him live this down,” Thea snickered, side-by-side with Laurel, who was also sniggering. “Never will I let him forget the day that the great Oliver Queen, transformed into a puppy, played with a squeaky pink rubber ball and chased his own tail.”

Almost as if he had fire on his heels, Oliver whipped around and snarled at his sister, ears flat against his skull. Thea jumped, not because the tiny snarl was at all scary, but because she wasn’t expecting such a bold response from the puppy.

“Guess he doesn’t like us thinking that he’s just playing around,” Laurel commented, tucking her phone away. “Maybe he thinks it’s training or something.” At Oliver’s approving huff, rubbing himself against her leg, she grinned. “Oh yeah, he totally thinks it’s training.”

“Come on, Oliver,” Felicity sighed, but still smiling at Oliver’s outraged expression that Laurel was suggesting his playing with the ball was anything but training. She reached down to pick him up, waiting for his nod of consent before she once again scooped him into her arms and carried him up onto her computer platform, plonking him down onto her spare swivel chair. “Team Flash will be here in an hour, we can at least do them a favour and find out where the metahuman is hiding.”

He yapped in agreement as she wheeled the chair with him on top of it so he could sit next to her, before she got to work. Diggle drew Thea and Laurel away from the puppy by dragging them into a sparring exercise that they took down to the garage, leaving Oliver and Felicity alone in the main room. Oliver, bless his heart, was actually as good as gold, simply sitting on his chair and watching Felicity for most of the time, very occasionally standing and putting his paws up onto the counter to sniff at her hands on the keyboard. Felicity managed to find a location for the meta’s hide-out using some new algorithms she had typed up that used CCTV and probability, and she noted it down before moving on to run some searches across the police servers. Every so often, she shot a glance towards the curious puppy, smiling at his fascinated expression.

“Oh my god, _PUPPY_!” was Cisco’s exhilarated cry that announced Team Flash’s arrival as Barry zipped himself, Caitlin and Cisco into the room with a brief flash of red lightning. Cisco immediately dropped the duffel bag he was holding and hurried to approach Oliver and Felicity.

Felicity grinned as she picked Oliver up from the chair, ignoring his concerned and alarmed whine, and placed him down on the floor. Cisco instantly advanced towards the husky puppy, hands held out and making grabby motions. Felicity winced slightly - things weren't going to go down well if Cisco tried to cuddle the puppy, or even tried to pick him up. She knew the vigilante wouldn't stand snuggles. Oliver tried to hide behind one of the swivelly chairs, tail between his legs, but Cisco dragged him back out again, awwing loudly.

“Aww, who’s a good puppy?” He crooned. “Who’s a good - _YEOW_!” He drew back sharply, clutching his hand. “Bad puppy, very bad puppy! Felicity, your boyfriend in puppy form just _bit_ me!”

“Then that’s your fault,” Felicity answered, smirking as she settled back into her chair. “Oliver hasn’t bitten anybody else. You shouldn’t have tried to stroke him and pick him up without asking.”

“He’s even cuter than on camera,” Caitlin grinned, taking Cisco’s place as he backed off with a wounded expression. She knelt down and held her fingers out, letting the puppy come to her, which Felicity reckoned was a good idea. Caitlin was always aware of Oliver’s touch sensitivity and knew that randomly patting the archer on the back and clapping him on the shoulder was a bad idea. Once again, Caitlin’s kindness and empathy shone through as she waited patiently for the puppy to make the decision. Oliver sniffed her fingertips cautiously before nudging her hand with his muzzle, making a noise that was a mixture between a whine and a curious snuffle. “Aw. Hi, Oliver.”

“I thought you were just messing with us when you said he got turned into a puppy,” Barry said, wide-eyed and staring down at the little husky. He had a plastic shopping bag in hand, containing what looked like a load of dog supplies. “But… wow. You weren’t. Oliver Queen… is a puppy.”

“Yep,” Felicity nodded, before she turned to Caitlin and continued, “And we kind of need to know how and for how long. I mean, it isn’t exactly going to be very practical if he’s a puppy forever…”

“Right.” Caitlin fell back into doctor mode. “I brought some equipment. We need to do some tests.” She tried to pick Oliver up but he shrank back and quickly slunk back over to Felicity to hide behind her legs. “They won’t hurt, Oliver, I promise.”

After a lot of initial reluctance, Oliver finally let Caitlin perform some tests on him in the medical bay, but only when Felicity was right next to him and Cisco and Barry were in the next room, out of sight. It was becoming all too clear to Felicity that Oliver was extremely embarrassed about being seen by the Central City crew in his vulnerable state, although he didn’t mind Caitlin so much because she wasn’t overly taken up with stroking and petting him. Caitlin took blood, skin samples, weighed Oliver and ran several weird looking devices over his body before she was able to make her diagnosis.

“Alright, Oliver, you’re currently in the form of a six week old Siberian Husky puppy, judging by your weight and height.” Caitlin informed him, observing her notes. “And thankfully, I have good news for you: you’re perfectly healthy.”

“Bad news?” Felicity grimaced.

“It’s not exactly reversible.”

They had equal expressions of horror plastered over their faces.

“But it’s not permanent either,” she told him, and both Felicity and Oliver heaved sighs of relief. “Sorry, Oliver, but you’re going to have to wait until this wears off.” She stripped her medical latex gloves before before adding with a wince, “Which will be in about a week’s time.”

Felicity’s jaw dropped. Oliver looked utterly terrified.

“A _week_?”

“Give or take a few days,” Caitlin nodded. “Felicity, you and the team are obviously going to have to make some adjustments down here for Oliver’s safety and at home as well. Other than that, you’re going to have to look after him like he’s an actual puppy - not forgetting that he’s still Oliver, of course,” she added hastily when Oliver glared at her, ears flat against his skull.

“I don't know how to look after a puppy,” Felicity said, looking terrified. “I barely know how to look after _myself_. Oliver’s the domestic one out of the two of us, Cait!”

“Well, you’re lucky then. Barry and I bought you a load of stuff with that in mind.” Caitlin managed a small smile. She reached for the plastic shopping bag Barry had brought in and opened it, pulling out its contents. “Puppy care books, some good quality puppy food, bowls, dog toys, special chews, a blanket -” She glanced up sharply, mirth making her eyes sparkle as she continued, “Puppy pads, a collar and lead.” 

“A collar?” Felicity repeated, flabbergasted. Caitlin showed her. It was dark green with a silver tag on it with Felicity’s cell number, and a tiny arrow pendant dangling from it. “Let me guess - Cisco’s idea?” 

“Yep.” 

“He’s not wearing that.” 

Caitlin grimaced. “If you’re planning on letting him run around outside… he’ll have to. And he has to be on a lead for walks in public places.” She put the collar down, flicking the pendant with her finger. “He’s too young for that at the moment though, so I think you’ll be fine.” 

“Cisco bought a lead too?” Caitlin pulled it out. It was the same dark green leather as the collar, and it had little plastic diamonds sewn onto it. “Of course. This is Cisco we’re talking about. The diamonds are a bit much.” 

Oliver, meanwhile, hadn't said anything. Well - not said, but he hadn't voiced his protest by angry angry barking or growling, which was what Felicity honestly expected. She scooped him up from the table into her arms and placed him back down onto the floor, where he could move freely, but the puppy just sat at her feet, staring ahead blankly. 

“Oliver?” she asked gently. The puppy didn’t respond. Caitlin shot her a concerned look. 

Felicity knelt down and lifted his chin so he had to look into her eyes. His cerulean eyes were worryingly blank. “Come on, Oliver, you must be tired,” she whispered, picking him up and holding him to her chest as she passed Caitlin. The doctor followed behind her. The puppy didn’t so much as startle at her touch, or even squirm a little in her arms like he usually did. 

It worried Felicity even further that Oliver didn’t snarl or protest at the idea of being put down for a nap. He was clearly tired, and he curled up on Felicity’s chair in a blanket and went to sleep without another word. 

“Keep an eye on him,” Caitlin said to Felicity quietly as they both moved away, and the hacker began helping the doctor pack up some of her equipment. “His self-esteem is already low as it is, and this is probably going to lower it even further.” 

“Okay,” she murmured. “We’ll - I’ll tell the team.” 

“Make sure you do,” Caitlin nodded. “I can tell from the texts Laurel and Thea sent me that they think this is hilarious. And that they’re going to want to treat Oliver like an actual puppy. Don’t let them.” Her cell phone beeped. “That’s probably Iris wanting an update.” 

“Take it,” Felicity smiled. “Has she seen a picture of Oliver?” 

“Yeah, and while the rest of us were all asking how it happened, I think the first thing she asked was whether or not you would notice if she kidnapped him for a few days.” Caitlin looked amused. “You should have seen Joe’s reaction. He was going on about how Oliver was a dangerous maniac and then we told him he had been turned into an animal that represented his true self, and he said he was probably a tiger or something. Then we showed him the picture and don’t think he’ll ever think about Oliver the same way again.” 

“Felicity? Caitlin?” Barry stuck his head around the corner, flashing them a quick grin. “Yeah, uh, the rest of the team and I are gonna head out to catch that meta. Dig said you had an address for us, ‘Lis?” 

“Yep, I’ll get the coordinates now,” she replied. “Watch Oliver for a sec?” 

“Sure,” Barry responded. He stood in his Flash costume gazing down at the sleeping puppy while Felicity scrambled to write down the address for him. “It’s pretty weird seeing him like this.” 

“You’re telling me,” Felicity sighed, copying the post code. 

“No, I mean, you two live together. You and the team get to see him all domestic and all soft and mushy occasionally. You know, see him loosen up.” Barry looked very close to reaching down and brushing his hand over Oliver’s side just to see how furry he was. “Whenever I’ve seen him he’s always been - you know, the Arrow. Or the Green Arrow. Or he’s been the stoic, cold, broody version of Oliver Queen.” He shook his head wistfully. “He’s never really let his guard down enough to sleep in front of me.” 

“He’s a puppy, he needs to nap,” Felicity smiled, but weakly. Barry was right - even in puppy form, his hypervigilance would take precedence over tiredness and the need to nap. Oliver must have really been zoned out to fall asleep. 

“You know that’s not what I mean,” Barry muttered. “He looks… _peaceful_. Content.” 

Felicity slapped the piece of paper with the address on it down into Barry’s open palm. “There you go. One address for a metahuman that can change people into animals. Kick his ass for Oliver when you take him in, will you?” 

Barry chuckled. “I’ll make sure Speedy shoots an extra arrow in his back for him.” 

“You still haven’t got over that, have you?” Felicity raised an eyebrow. 

“ _Two arrows_ , Felicity! In the _back_! Just because are there no physical scars, doesn’t mean there aren’t psychological ones!” 

“Yeah, yeah, Barry,” Caitlin rolled his eyes. “This is the seventh time you’ve gone on about it. Go and catch the meta." 

Barry left, sulking, muttering under his breath, “... can still feel where he hit me when it’s cold…” 

Caitlin raised an eyebrow and laughed, following after the speedster, but not before throwing the blonde hacker a wink, and she returned with a beaming smile. However, once the two of them had vacated the room, her grin dropped. 

Barry was right. She knew it. Oliver was almost always stressed out and worrying about something. He only ever really got to unwind when they were alone in the Loft, cuddling on the couch and watching Dance Moms and Hockey Wives and when they slept in each other’s arms. Even then, he was occasionally tense. Puppy Oliver was more relaxed. Maybe it was because there weren’t so many emotional barriers - puppies couldn’t hide their emotions. 

That was going to be bad. If Oliver didn’t have his usual emotional barriers up like he did when he was human, he was probably going to end up having mental breakdowns and PTSD episodes, in front of the team. And as a puppy, he wasn’t going to be able to defend himself, or even control himself properly.

Running a hand over her face due to her tiredness, Felicity sighed and glanced over at where Oliver was curled up, sleeping. He was slightly trembling, and his little paws were twitching. He was dreaming. It probably wasn’t about anything good. Taking a seat next to the counter where her boyfriend was sleeping, Felicity dropped her hand onto his side and threaded her fingers through his fur, closing her eyes. 

It was going to be a long, long week. 

* * *


	2. ~ Part 2 ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are once again! Puppy!Oliver fic part 2. I was astounded by the response to Part 1 of this. Thank you so much for all your lovely comments! I really appreciate it! Once again thank you very much to @yespleasehawkeye/CheerUpLovely for looking this over for me :) You’re the best, hun.
> 
> Still taking one or two prompts. I know it says /5 up there on that lil screen, but seriously, this might end up being /10. I just love writing this so much.

* * *

Team Flash had caught the metahuman by that evening. Barry, along with Diggle, Thea and Laurel staked out the meta’s hideout and when the meta had least been expecting an ambush, they had nabbed him. He didn’t have a chance. They dragged him back in cuffs that suppressed his powers, courtesy of Cisco, and then Team Flash apologetically told them that they had to get back to their own city to deal with another metahuman that had just popped up, having received a call from Iris, and also put the meta into containment.

They said goodbye to the team before departing in the STAR Labs van, with the meta sedated and their equipment packed up. After saying their farewells to everybody else on the team, they finally approached Felicity, where she stood with Oliver sitting calmly at her feet. After his nap, he had been acting more lively again, his short bout of blankness behind him. Upon Barry’s advance towards them, Oliver stood up onto all fours, tail beginning to wag. 

“Good to see you, Felicity,” Barry beamed, hugging her tightly before bracing one hand on her shoulder. “We’re still on for our Game of Thrones night next Saturday, right?” At her smile and nod, Barry knelt down on one knee so he could get on a more equal level with the husky puppy and said, very seriously, “Great working with you again, Ollie.”

Oliver cocked his head and jumped up so his forepaws were on Barry’s knees and he growled loudly in the speedster’s face before giving the puppy-equivalent of a smile. Barry offered his hand out for a handshake, and although Oliver struggled at first, he finally lifted one of his paws up for the speedster to take and shake. Without any warning whatsoever, the tiny puppy raised his head and gave a small howl, that sounded like a cross between a warble and a yodel all at once. It probably would have been more impressive if the puppy’s vocal cords were more developed, but instead it sounded adorable.

“ _Wrooo wroooooo_ ,” Barry attempted to howl back, trying yet epically failing to replicate the sound. He grimaced, but then Oliver began the sound again, batting his right paw on Barry’s leg. “Oh, you understood that?” Oliver nipped at Barry’s hand with a soft growl, making him wince. “Yeah, yeah, I get it, it was awful. Least I tried, right?”

The puppy rumbled, snuffling into the speedster’s coat. Barry just rolled his eyes and hugged the puppy briefly, hands burying into his scruff, releasing him as soon as Oliver started squirming.

“See ya, Oliver,” he grinned, rising and letting Cisco and Caitlin come forwards.

Cisco was very hesitant in his goodbye, still wary of Oliver biting him again, however Oliver begrudgingly let him stroke him, and Cisco departed with a grin on his face. Caitlin was much more sure in her farewell, asking permission and when Oliver gave his assent, the doctor scooped him up into her arms and embraced him for a few seconds. The husky puppy even gave her a quick lick on her cheek to say thank you for coming.

“So,” Felicity said awkwardly, glancing down at the puppy at her feet once the elevator doors had shut, obscuring Team Flash from view. “You’re a puppy for a week.”

Oliver humphed in an annoyed fashion, shooting her a look that clearly said, _You don’t have to remind me of that_ , before he trotted off back up the stairs onto the computer platform. Biting her lip to hide her smile, Felicity followed him slowly, waiting until the puppy was settled on his haunches before she sat down on the floor herself, cross-legged and facing him. Oliver refused to meet her eyes, moving so he was lying down with his head on his paws and his ears back.

“It’s okay, Oliver,” she tried to reassure him, but her voice got caught in her throat slightly. Because this was not in any way okay - her boyfriend was stuck in the form of a tiny puppy for a week and he probably felt completely powerless and useless, and that along with his already existent self-esteem issues and anxiety… was _not_ going to be a good combination. “Honestly, it’s fine. We can get through this.”

He still didn’t say anything, actually turning his head away from her and curling up a little bit tighter, closing his eyes.

She reached forwards and placed a hand gently on his back. He flinched at first, so she waited until he relaxed before stroking softly down his spine, whispering, “Oliver, it’s just a week, it’s going to be okay, I promise. John, Thea and Laurel will be able to manage patrols just fine, and if we co-ordinate with Captain Lance, we should be capable of coping without the Green Arrow on missions for seven days.”

Oliver glanced back towards her and Felicity’s heart sank. This wasn’t about patrols or being the Green Arrow. The husky puppy seemed… upset. She gazed into his piercingly blue eyes for a few seconds before coming to a realisation.

“This doesn’t change anything in our relationship, Oliver. I still love you. I’ve always loved you, and I always will. You’re… _it_ for me. You’re my Prince Charming. You very briefly assuming the form of a puppy will never change that.”

There was a brief pause, and then Oliver clambered to his over large paws and crawled into her lap. He gave a heavy sigh of what she suspected was relief. Smiling, she leant back against the railings and threaded her hands through his soft fur, closing her eyes. Silence fell, comfortable and familiar, and they were given a few brief minutes of peace, something they had hardly received since returning to Star City.

“Caitlin just texted.” Felicity opened her eyes to find Thea standing by the stairs. Laurel and John were nowhere to be seen, so it was probably just Oliver’s sister checking on them both. Presuming that Caitlin had texted Thea warning her that Oliver was going to be stuck in puppy form for a week, she would have expected Thea to be grinning or snickering. Except the young Queen was strangely serious. “Is he really stuck like that for a week?”

“‘Fraid so,” she answered.

Thea looked conflicted. “I mean, it’s funny seeing him like that… and he’s my brother, and I’m never going to let him forget that in animal form he’s a puppy but… a week? That… that just seems unnecessarily cruel.” She paused before muttering, her eyes fixed on the puppy now half-asleep on Felicity’s lap, “He must feel so helpless like that… he must be really scared.”

“There’s nothing we can really do about it,” Felicity sighed. “We just have to wait it out.” She gazed down at where her hand was still stroking through Oliver’s fur before commenting, “I don’t think you and Laurel should video him anymore. It’s going to be stressful enough for him… we don’t want to add to that.”

“I’ll talk to her,” Thea promised, giving her a weak smile before grabbing her towel and departing.

Oliver spent the rest of the day playing around with his squeaky ball, but not with the energy he had possessed before when playing with John. Felicity kept a close eye on him, content to sit at the conference table with her laptop and read through some Palmer Tech reports, writing emails and constructing meeting plans. The best thing about CEO was that she could work from home if she wanted to, and right now Curtis had agreed to inform her if anything came up at the office, so she didn’t have to leave the husky puppy by himself.

“Hey, Oliver,” Diggle said, piping up from where he was sorting through his weapons cabinet. The puppy glanced up from where he was absentmindedly batting at the ball, lost in thought. “Want to come over and see Sara tonight?”

Oliver looked adorably confused.

“I know it’s kind of taking advantage of your… ah, _condition_ , at the moment, but she loves puppies,” Diggle said sheepishly. “And she’s been a little fussy lately and keeping Lyla and I up at night. I was just thinking that maybe -” He cut off, now appearing frustrated with himself. “Don’t worry, it’s a stupid idea. Forget I said anything.”

Oliver didn’t move and just blinked at Diggle, but then he abandoned the ball and bounded over to the ex-soldier, poking at his leg with one paw so he got the man’s attention. Diggle looked surprised for a moment, realising that Oliver was requesting to be picked up, but he shrugged and lifted the husky puppy into his arms. Oliver squirmed around a bit to get comfortable, bracing his paws on his best friend’s shoulders. After a few seconds though, he settled, tilted his head forwards and gave a nod. A smile broke out over Felicity’s face. She and Oliver hardly ever got to see baby Sara these days due to their demanding jobs, which was pretty bad considering they were her godparents.

“We can take the night-off,” Felicity suggested, drawing her boys’ attention. “I’m sure Captain Lance wouldn’t mind managing comms for tonight’s patrol, and it’s quiet at the moment, not really much Ghost activity, so Thea and Laurel should be able to handle it.”

“Great idea, Felicity,” Diggle grinned, still holding the puppy calmly. “Should we head out around five-ish? That leaves an hour and a half before Sara goes to bed, and then we can have dinner together.”

“Sure,” Felicity agreed, smiling.

Oliver whined, batting at Diggle’s chest.

“Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten about you,” Diggle rolled his eyes. “I have some good quality bacon and sausages at home you can eat, as I’m pretty sure you’re not going to be able to stomach chilli. Although I think I read somewhere that a diet of solid meat isn’t actually healthy for puppies. We’ll have to get you some puppy food.”

Felicity didn’t think she had ever seen Oliver look so irritated in his life.

“Caitlin and Barry bought some dry kibble.” Dragging the plastic bag of dog supplies provided by Team Flash from out under the counter, Felicity pulled out the bag of dog food up onto the table to examine. Diggle grabbed a handful of the stuff to look at, whilst she read the label. “It looks to be good quality.”

Diggle offered the puppy a handful of the stuff. “Oliver, you wanna try?”

Oliver tried to rear his head back with a snarl, looking disgusted at the prospect of eating puppy kibble. When Diggle lifted his hand a little higher, frowning, the puppy lowered his head as if he was about to sniff the food - then smashed his muzzle into the side of his partner’s hand, sending all off the kibble scattering to the floor. Oliver’s smug expression told Felicity everything she needed to know.

“Yeah, I don’t think that will be happening,” she said. “He’s not going to want to eat this stuff. To be honest, it’s rude for us to even ask him to.” The puppy snorted once in agreement before snuffling into Diggle’s t-shirt, making the man chuckle and Felicity smile. “I better finish up my police band sweep before we have to leave. Do you mind looking after Oliver?” She paused, shaking her head. “Sorry, wrong question. _Oliver_ , do you mind John looking after you while I finish my work?”

The puppy gave a high-pitched yowl to consent to the idea, so Diggle carried him off to a quieter section of the Lair so they could ‘train’ with some dog toys while Felicity worked. Time passed relatively quickly, at least to Felicity, and before long it was rolling up to four thirty, and she was packing up and closing down her programmes, preparing the station for Captain Lance. Like everybody else on the team, he still didn’t understand her complicated comms system, and she had to pull up her simplified one and connect all the ear pieces before hand-off so there weren’t any issues throughout the patrol.

Diggle re-appeared with Oliver bounding at his heels just as the blonde hacker was grabbing her bag. He had a plastic bag with a few of the dog toys inside in one hand. “Ready to go? Car’s parked on the street across from the garage entrance.”

“Yep,” she answered cheerfully. “How’d your… uh, ‘training’ session go?”

Diggle smirked. “Great. His pouncing is on point. We’re planning to do some stealth exercises throughout the week.”

Felicity successfully held back her snicker. “Sounds like a good idea.” Oliver pawed at her right shoe with a low whine. “Alright, mister, we’ll hurry up. Eager to see baby Sara, huh? I should probably carry you out to the car, so I’m going to pick you up, okay?”

She had just scooped Oliver up into her arms for what must have been the dozenth time when the secret elevator entrance pinged, telling them somebody was heading down. The doors opened and Lance stepped out, focused on his phone, frowning down at it.

“Hey, Captain!” Felicity greeted him, grinning. “Thanks for agreeing to man the comms for me tonight, I think a night off will really do John, Oliver and I some good.”

“No problem, you know I don’t mind helping out the tea -” The police captain cut off as he finally glanced up to smile at them, and he froze. He was staring at the puppy in her arms in what appeared to be astonishment. Oliver swivelled his tiny head around, gazing impassively at the man, his ears and whiskers twitching. Lance gaped around his words for a moment, before he spluttered, “Is that Oliver?”

Felicity nodded. “Uh huh.” Oliver shifted nervously in her arms and she cracked a smile, glancing down at him as she gently took a hold of one of his paws and waved it at Lance. “Say hi, honey.” Oliver growled adorably and yanked his paw back, looking disdained. “Aw, come on, don’t be like that.”

Lance hadn’t even blinked. “When I got the pictures and the videos, I thought Laurel and Thea were playing a prank on me.” When neither Felicity nor Diggle responded, Lance questioned more urgently, “Are you seriously telling me that Oliver got turned into a puppy?! This isn’t a prank?”

“I wish this _was_ a prank,” Felicity mumbled.

Diggle shot her a look before turning to the captain and confirming with a wry grin, “This isn’t a prank. Oliver was trying to take down a meta with powers unknown for Team Flash and it turned out that this particular meta had the ability to change humans into animals. He got whammied.”

“And now he’s… he’s a puppy,” Lance still couldn’t seem to understand this.

“For a week, yes,” Felicity said.

Lance blinked, taking a deep breath. “Uh. Oh...kay. I would probably be finding this funny if I wasn’t so horrifically disturbed.”

“Well, we thought it was hilarious at first,” Diggle admitted. “Couldn’t stop laughing for a full twenty minutes. Then we realised that the Green Arrow had been transformed into a tiny vulnerable husky that barely weighs ten pounds for the foreseeable future.” He rubbed the back of his neck, sighing. “Crazy world we live in, Captain.”

“Every week I become more and more aware of that. And here’s to think I thought a speedster was pushing the limits of science. Now Oliver Queen has been turned into a puppy.” He eyed the husky cautiously. “And he’s still, ya know, Oliver… mentally? That’s just him… in a puppy sized package? He can still understand and communicate and stuff, right?”

“Oh, it’s definitely still Oliver,” Felicity muttered. “And he still has all the quirks, habits, likes, dislikes and thoughts of human Oliver, so I wouldn’t try to stroke him,” she rushed to continue, as Lance was just reaching out to touch the puppy in her arms, and Oliver was already beginning to snarl. “He’s still touch sensitive.”

“Ouch,” Lance winced, pulling his hand back. “Sorry, Queen.”

“Felicity,” Diggle prompted.

“Right, yeah, we have to go,” Felicity told Lance with a smile, lifting Oliver a little higher in her arms. At that point, even the police captain had to crack a smile as the puppy licked her cheek, nuzzling her hair with his muzzle. “The comms system is all set up for you, and there’s leftover Chinese in the communal fridge if you’re hungry… Laurel and Thea know what they’re doing. There shouldn’t be any trouble, and if there is, you have my number, and John’s. Both of them should know to lay off the pyrotechnics and explosions without John and I there, but if you could remind them of that, please, that would be great. Their patrol shouldn’t be any longer than four hours long, and if they try to stay out for longer than that, send me a text and I’ll deal with them.”

“You’re making it sound as if I’m babysitting them, Felicity,” Lance replied.

“You kind of are,” Diggle responded. “Thea definitely needs adult supervision.”

Felicity carried on, as if Diggle hadn’t spoken. “They’ll probably be hungry after they finish up for the night, so make sure they eat. Don’t let either of them near the chocolate cake on the top shelf of the fridge, or the popsicles. Oh, and Laurel is only allowed the blueberry oat bars from the white basket, in the bottom left hand cupboard. There are cranberry ones for Thea in there as well if complains.”

“And no juice of any kind after nine?” Lance continued sarcastically.

“Now you’re getting it,” Felicity nodded. “And technically it’s eleven, but you can go with nine. Oliver’s apple juice makes them both hyper.” She paused for a second, thinking, before remembering, “Oh! And Thea needs to sort out her quiver before heading out tonight. Remind Laurel that she needs to do up all of the buckles on her jacket this time -”

“Okay, Felicity, stop hassling Captain Lance,” Diggle muttered, rolling his eyes as he took hold of the blonde’s arm and led her to the garage gently. “Let’s go. Good night, Captain.”

“G’night, Mr Lance!”

“‘Night, you two.”

The drive to John and Lyla’s city apartment was only short, so as they didn’t have a puppy car crate or seatbelt for Oliver, Felicity held him on her lap as Diggle drove. After they parked the car, they made their way up to the apartment, Felicity reluctant to put Oliver down on the ground to walk himself. She had taken a quick glance in the puppy care book that Team Flash had bought her earlier, and it had said inside that puppies shouldn’t be put down and allowed to run around unless they were in a safe, sterile environment and had been vaccinated. Oliver hadn’t been vaccinated against diseases and bacteria dangerous to dogs, so she thought it was better to be cautious.

Lyla opened the door to them, smiling, and she immediately awwed on seeing Oliver. To Felicity’s surprise, the puppy didn’t seem to mind Lyla touching him. Diggle closed and locked the door behind them as Lyla scratched gently between Oliver’s ears, watching his wife with a bit of a smirk on his face.

“I know you’re probably going to hate hearing this, Oliver,” Lyla said. “But you’re absolutely adorable. Can I -?” Felicity checked with the puppy before carefully passing him over. The husky’s little claws dug into Lyla’s t-shirt as he scrambled to get a secure position so he was braced against her shoulder. “Oh my god, you’re so _skinny_ , Oliver. I can feel your ribcage.” She stood there silently for a second, cradling the puppy to her shoulder before she slowly turned to her husband, just saying once, “John.”

“We’re not getting a puppy, Lyla,” John answered firmly.

“Yeah, you say that, but I think we all know who the alpha is in this house,” Lyla huffed. Oliver gave a small whimper. “I’ll put you down, Oliver, it’s okay.”

Kneeling, she loosened her arms and allowed the puppy to wriggle out of them. The husky puppy bounded forwards about half a metre before instinctively shaking out his pelt, shedding some fur over the carpet, which Diggle grimaced at. Felicity accepted a coffee as she watched Oliver begin exploring the room, slinking around and sniffing everything, ears swivelling back and forth curiously. They waited for five minutes or so until the puppy seemed comfortable in the new environment, trotting back up to Felicity and batting at her legs to lift him onto her lap on the couch, before Lyla rose, stretching slightly.

“Sara’s playing in her room, she just had dinner,” Lyla announced. “I’ll go get her, shall I?” She was about to vanish into baby Sara’s bedroom when he halted and turned back, looking at Oliver specifically as she warned softly, “She has grabby baby hands, Oliver. She’ll pull on your fur and on your ears. You sure you’re going to be okay with that?”

Felicity stroked one hand down Oliver’s back as the puppy contemplated that for a moment, his ears going back and head lowering. But after musing on it, he nodded and Lyla smiled briefly. She disappeared into the bedroom and when she returned it was guiding a tiny baby Sara by the hand. Felicity gasped. She had grown so much since she had last saw her. Her frizzy black hair perfectly matched her beautiful brown eyes, and little Sara was walking confidently, barely tripping over at all.

“F’liss!” Sara screeched joyfully as soon as she caught sight of her godmother. She let go of her mother’s hand and stumbled towards her quickly. “F’liss, F’liss, F’liss!”

Oliver scrambled off of her, jumping the gap between the two couches, falling onto Diggle’s lap so that she had the space to seat Sara on her knees as the little toddler ran towards her. “Hey there, pretty bird,” Felicity murmured, grinning widely as baby Sara heaved herself onto her lap. “You’ve grown so big! Big, big girl! You’re a big, strong girl, aren’t you?”

Sara giggled happily, clapping her hands. “F’liss! Da ‘n’ Ma said you coming and you here! Where’s Ol?” She began twisting around to try and find her godfather. “Ol’yeee!” She called loudly, causing her parents to laugh. Sara still couldn’t say Oliver’s full name properly, or his nickname, Ollie, that he had told her she could call him. Her searching eyes led her to the puppy and she inhaled sharply, eyes going wide. The toddler and husky gazed at each other for a few seconds before Sara squealed, “ _PUPPY_!”

She pushed off Felicity’s lap and waddled towards her father, laughing, trying to climb up his legs and reaching out for Oliver. Lyla pulled her daughter back with a chuckle, holding her back a metre away so that Diggle could place the husky puppy down on the floor. Oliver seemed hesitant at first, but he crawled on his belly up to Sara before sitting in front of her, cocking his head sideways at her and starting to give one of those warbling howls again, that tapered off quickly when Sara tried to join in adorably.

“Puppyyyyyyy,” Sara crooned, her mother finally letting go of her.

Sara immediately pulled away from Lyla and ran on little feet over to Oliver, threading her little pudgy fingers into his fur, hugging him tightly. Felicity breathed a sigh of relief when Oliver didn’t squirm or growl, and instead just took the embrace in his stride, blinking big blue eyes at the little girl. She couldn’t stop giggling.

“You going to say hi to the puppy, baby?” Diggle said, unable to keep a massive grin off of his face at the sight of his daughter fawning over the husky puppy.

“Awww, hiii, puppyyyyyyy.” Oliver tentatively licked her cheek and she squealed again. She clambered onto Oliver’s back and he rested on his forepaws so she was straddling his back like a horse, laughing and grinning. “Whas’his name?” she asked her mom, burying her hands into his scruff.

“His name’s Oliver, little bird,” Felicity answered, shifting off the sofa so she was sitting cross-legged on the floor with the toddler and the puppy.

“Like Ol’yeee?”

“Just like Ollie,” Felicity nodded.

“Can’na keep ‘im?”

Felicity laughed softly. “Afraid not. You can play with him before bedtime though, okay?”

Sara and Oliver spent the next hour playing together, whilst Diggle, Lyla and Felicity chatted idly on the couches, keeping an eye on the toddler and puppy as they sipped coffees. Oliver was strangely docile and tolerant with little Sara, letting her yank on his fur and his ears, and at one point she even started trying to imitate howling in his face, to which he replied to with his own little yowl. They rolled around with each other in the most adorable show of affection Felicity had ever seen, Oliver keeping his claws carefully out of the way and bounding around the toddler, chasing her and letting her chase him. Eventually, however, the night darkened and it was time for Sara to go to sleep.

“Okay, sweetie, bedtime,” Lyla announced gently, lifting Sara up into her arms.

“Nooooooo,” Sara protested, pushing away from her mother and trying to get back down onto the floor. “Wanna stay up, play wit’ Ol’yeee!” It probably would have been a stronger statement if at the end the little toddler hadn’t given a big tired yawn.

“You’re tired, baby, you need to go bed,” Lyla returned, kissing her daughter on the cheek.

Oliver sat down on his haunches, whining in complaint that his playmate was being taken away. It made Felicity and Diggle chuckle and Lyla laugh, leaning down so she could ruffle the fur at the top of his head, between his ears, ignoring his ears going back as she did so.

“Sorry, Oliver, she needs to get some sleep. You can come back and play with her any time, Oliver.” She paused before turning to Felicity and fake whispering conspiratorially, “Can we just keep him like this?” Oliver whacked his paw on her shin, growling, making sure his claws dug in a little. “Whoa, there, little guy, I was just kidding. Say goodnight, Sara.”

“‘Night!” The toddler chirped. “Bye, Ol’yeee!”

The puppy wagged his tail and began to howl in response, but Felicity shushed him because of the neighbours, and it ended with a friendly huff. Sara was carried away by Lyla, who shut the door to the bedroom, leaving Original Team Arrow in blessed silence. Diggle rose to start preparing dinner again, as he and Lyla had been working on the food while Sara and the puppy were playing, and Felicity took their empty coffee mugs to the sink, before turning to pick Oliver up to sit with him on the couch. As she put the puppy down, he gave a massive yawn that showed off sharp, sparking canines, his eyes blinking tiredly.

“All worn out, huh?” She grinned. “Maybe it’s you who should be going to bed.” He gave an adorable snarl in response but it was cut off by another yawn. “You can take a nap if you want, honey. Nobody here’s going to judge you. John’ll keep watch.”

She expected Oliver to protest, insist on staying awake, but to her shock, the puppy curled up into a tiny ball, squeezed between two of the couch cushions with his side pressing into her thigh. With another small yawn, he closed his eyes, tucked his head to his tail and headed off into nap land. By the time Lyla came back from putting Sara to bed, Oliver was fast asleep on the couch, Felicity’s fingers mapping random code into his fur as she made sure there was a constant point of contact between them.

“John,” Lyla said, as soon as the three of them sat down at the dinner table to dig into their plates of rice and chilli. “Honey. Sweetheart. Love of my life.”

Diggle sighed. “We’re not getting a puppy, Lyla.”

Lyla set her expression. “Yes, we are.”

“No, we’re not.”

Felicity chimed in, “I think getting a puppy is a great idea!”

Diggle looked at her. “Are you prepared to give us Oliver to be our family puppy?”

Felicity blinked at him, confused and some part of her also slightly horrified. “You can’t have my boyfriend. Why would you even ask that?”

“Because getting a puppy would be as problematic as adopting an Oliver,” Diggle told her. “And since Oliver is an actual puppy right now, I think that is a very suitable expression to use, before you say anything to counter it.”

Felicity waved her hand dismissively, looking amused. “ _Pfff_. Oliver’s not problematic.” Diggle quirked an eyebrow. She pointed at him. “Hey, you’re not the one living with him, I think I’m more qualified than you to make that sort of assessment. We’ve shared living space for over six months, you two just share a Lair. And a shower room, a bottle of whiskey and a couch occasionally. Oliver’s not problematic.”

“You told me that he leaves his wet towels on the side of the bed,” Diggle said.

Felicity frowned, muttering, “Okay, yeah, _that_ I find annoying. But he also cooks for me, he cleans, he lets me watch what I want on TV, he gives me foot massages… what else… oh! OH! He bakes chocolate chip cookies for me when I’m on my period!” She announced triumphantly. “Ha, see, that definitely trumps the wet towel thing.”

“Is a puppy going to bake me chocolate chip cookies when I’m on _my_ period?” Diggle paused, realising his error. “Wait…”

“Did you seriously just say that?” Felicity sniggered. “Oh my god.”

Diggle looked put out, mumbling, “You know what I meant.”

Lyla slammed her hand down hard on the table, making both Felicity and Diggle’s heads snap around to her. “Getting back to what I was saying earlier… We’re getting a puppy, John,” Lyla said firmly.

Diggle shook his head, sitting back in his seat as he set his cutlery down, crossing his arms. “A puppy is a lot of work, Lyla.”

“Fine. We’ll wait until Sara is a little older. Then we’ll get a puppy.”

“You are aware that getting a puppy is just like having another baby.”

“We’ve already been trying for two weeks already, John, we agreed that we want another baby, and getting a puppy to grow up with the kids -”

“Please, change the subject,” Felicity cut in, her eyes wide. “Now. Please.”

Lyla quirked an eyebrow at Felicity. “Didn’t think you of all people would get embarrassed talking about having babies. You admitted to me that you want one.”

Felicity blushed scarlet. “Did not!”

“You did?” Diggle was looking at the blonde in a new light.

“No!”

“Don’t lie.”

“Okay, but that… that was… one time!” Felicity spluttered. “Like, a month after Sara was born. That doesn’t count because I was… baby-dazzled!”

“‘Baby-dazzled’?” Her fellow vigilante repeated, bewildered.

“Yes! It’s when your friend or relative or...person that you know has a baby and it’s so cute and cuddly that your immediate response is ‘Wow! I want a baby!’ because you think it’s amazing, but only for a few weeks because then you realise they’re - babies are tiny, stinky, noisy, albeit adorable, creatures that scream, cry, puke and poop everywhere!” Felicity nodded triumphantly. There. That got her point across.

“Oh, hun,” Lyla said sympathetically. “You totally want a baby.”

“Do NOT!” Felicity squawked.

“Oliver wants a baby too.” Lyla and Felicity slowly turned to Diggle, who shrugged. “What? He does. He wants to do the whole marriage, white picket fence house, three kids and a dog thing with you.”

“Okay, can we not talk about this, please?” Felicity said hurriedly, her heart beginning to beat faster than was probably healthy as she dug her nails into her knees, feeling slightly dizzy. Oliver wanted that with her? With _her_? And he wanted kids? “I don’t feel comfortable talking about this, especially not when Oliver is a puppy.”

Lyla sobered. “Right, of course.” She paused. “But you do want a baby.”

“Lyla!”

“Okay, okay, shutting up. I’m just teasing you. You know, we need to arrange another girls day with Laurel and Thea, maybe invite Iris and Caitlin too. I haven’t been shopping for pleasure in god knows how long -” Lyla stopped talking abruptly. “Did you hear that?”

Diggle was instantly on the alert, reaching for his Glock. “Hear what?”

They lapsed into tense silence before Lyla’s head snapped around again. “That.” She jumped out of her seat and accepted the Glock her husband passed over while grabbing another. “Felicity, stay in your seat. If I tell you to get down, you climb under the table and cover your head.”

She nodded silently in response. Lyla and Diggle began checking around the department, on alert. Lyla immediately went to check on her daughter’s safety, while Diggle was checking the windows and bathroom. As he walked back around towards the blonde hacker though, who was frozen in her seat, he heaved a visible sigh of relief, putting his gun down.

“False alarm,” he said. “It’s not an attack or an intruder.” He turned to Felicity pointedly. “You might want to come here.” He was looking down at Oliver on the couch.

She rose hurriedly and rushed over, concern for her boyfriend washing over her. When Felicity saw him, her breath caught in her throat. The husky puppy’s tiny form was shaking and he was making small whimpering and whining noises, which was obviously what Lyla had heard earlier. He seemed to be caught in the throes of a nightmare, a particularly awful one at that, she judged, due to the sheer amount of his trembling. Her heart bled for him - of course he was going to start having night terrors again. Oliver was in an extremely stressful, terrifying situation, where he felt helpless and vulnerable. She knew that was exactly how he had felt during his five years away, at multiple points.

“ _Don’t_ touch him,” Diggle warned sharply, as Lyla reached out to gently shake the puppy awake. “He may be a puppy, but he’s still Oliver Queen. You’ll get yourself bitten pretty badly.” His wife pulled back reluctantly, looking conflicted over the fact she had to leave Oliver to suffer in his nightmare, so Diggle took Lyla’s arm and led her away, saying, “Let’s give Felicity and Oliver the room.”

As the other two humans vacated the living room area, leaving Felicity alone with the twitching, whimpering puppy, she eased herself into the couch at the opposite end to where Oliver was sleeping, watching him carefully. It was only once silence had fallen completely that the blonde hacker began calling his name calmly and firmly, making sure not to touch him but speaking loud enough that she had no doubt he could hear her.

“Oliver, wake up,” she repeated. “Oliver. It’s just a nightmare. It’s not real. The team are safe, I am safe, you are safe. We’re in John and Lyla’s apartment in Star City. Wherever you are, it’s not real. You’re not really there. Wake up. Oliver, wake up.”

When she was least expecting it, Oliver startled awake. As if struck by lightning and his nerves were electrified, he leapt up, paws immediately trying to find purchase on the cushions as his tiny chest heaved. His violent jerk threw him to the floor, landing on his side with a yelp, and Felicity scrambled to push herself off the couch to check on him anxiously, although she made sure she didn’t touch him. She knew that if she did, she was more likely to get a chunk of her arm ripped off than offer any comfort to her distressed boyfriend.

“Hey, you’re safe,” she told him soothingly, as the puppy’s head snapped up to her when she tried to inch closer. Felicity bit her lip. His beautiful blue eyes were filled with pain and fear. “It’s okay, Oliver. It wasn’t real. I’m right here and you’re safe.” She waited until his breathing seemed easier, deeper, before she asked quietly, “Can I touch you now? Would that be okay?”

The puppy didn’t exactly say yes. He was crouched defensively on the floor with his tail between his legs, hind quarters shaking and his ears, that were flat against his skull, flicked up slightly. Oliver gave a low, shaky whine and took a hesitant step towards her, keeping his form close to the floor. Felicity shifted closer, leaning back on the couch as she pressed one of her hands to his side supportively, urging him towards her.

“There we go,” she murmured. The tiny husky was clambering onto her lap and lifting his muzzle to push his head underneath her chin. He was trembling less than before, but there was still a faint shiver running through him. Felicity carefully wrapped her arms around him, stroking him gently, whispering, “It was just a nightmare, it wasn’t real. I’m right here, everybody is safe and you’re okay, you’re safe, Oliver, I promise.”

“Felicity.” She glanced up. Diggle was hesitantly framing the doorway to his and Lyla’s bedroom, and he had a blanket in his hand. “It’s heated and weighted. I thought he might…” the man trailed off uncertainly, but when Felicity smiled encouragingly, he continued. “It’ll help him calm down. You can keep it. God knows he needs it more than I do at the moment. Hopefully it’ll help him sleep better.”

“Thanks, John,” she answered quietly, taking the blanket from his outstretched hand and laying it over the puppy, who was now blinking tiredly up at his partner. She moved her hand so she had it resting on Oliver’s scruff and he arched his head up into her touch, so she scratched from just above his eyes through his ears.

“This week is going to be hard on him,” Diggle said. “Puppies haven’t got emotional barriers. And Oliver puts up a hell of a lot of barriers, Felicity. He’s not going to be able to hold anything back, or control any of his feelings.” He paused, before adding darkly, “His PTSD’s come back full pelt since you two returned to the city, hasn’t it?”

“He doesn’t like discussing his mental health,” Felicity whispered, stroking the puppy gently. Oliver seemed to be dropping back off, not listening to their conversation. “But I insisted when we were away. He had flashbacks and night terrors about what happened when he was with the League and I convinced him we needed to research it.” She swallowed heavily, trying to blink back tears. “He hasn’t just got PTSD, John.”

“I know,” her partner replied, voice weighed. “Since I found out that he’s touch sensitive, I speculated that he has some sort of anxiety too. And with everything that happened with the Mirakuru soldiers and Slade Wilson… he was going to commit suicide, Felicity. And last year, after Sara’s death… well, her temporary one… it just confirmed it to me that he’s depressed too.”

Felicity nodded. She couldn’t argue against Diggle’s points or diagnoses, not when she knew that what he was saying was completely true. “He won’t see any sort of psychotherapist. I asked him about it when we were in Bali, after a particularly bad night, and he wouldn’t talk to me for two days.” She shook her head, her voice softening as she continued, “But he does want to get better. He’s been a lot better at talking about what happened during his five years away - oh, and he keeps a journal. I don’t know what he writes in it, it’s his private thing, but he says it’s memories.”

“That’s a good thing,” Diggle offered.

The blonde hacker sighed tiredly. “I think we should probably call it a night.”

Diggle smiled, grabbing his coat and shrugging it on as he agreed, “Yeah, you both look tired. I’ll drive you to the Loft.”

“Cool. Thanks. Tell Lyla thank you for dinner, it was wonderful.” Felicity glanced back to where their half eaten plates sat. “Well, uh, the half that I ate was wonderful. Really top notch cooking there.”

Amused, her friend replied, “I’ll put the leftovers in the communal fridge tomorrow.”

Diggle ended up driving Felicity and Oliver home at ten pm, the puppy fast asleep in the blonde’s arms, finally having calmed enough in Felicity’s hold that his exhausted body forced him back into unconsciousness. Felicity herself was pretty tired as well, so she simply changed quickly and clambered into bed, arranging Oliver on one of his pillows beside her before drifting off to sleep.

 _Day 1 officially complete. Only six days to go_ , she mused.

As the night deepened, puppy and human, boyfriend and girlfriend, vigilante and partner, fell back into an exhausted, deep slumber together, wrapped in each other’s embrace as one.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Please leave kudos or comment :)
> 
> Tumblr: @alexiablackbriar13  
> Twitter: @lexiblackbriar


	3. ~ Part 3 ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still in middle of exam period, decided to just shove this update out. Once again thanks to @yespleasehawkeye or CheerUpLovely on Ao3 for reading over :) Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Also - quick game - comment with what animals you think the rest of Team Arrow would be turned into. I'm curious.
> 
> Thanks for all the support and appreciation. It's really motivating :) Hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

“ _FELICITY!”_

Felicity startled from where she was seated behind her main computer set-up, pushing out her swivelly chair into the centre of the glass platform as she twirled around frantically to try and find where the bellowed call had come from.

“FELICITY, GET HERE RIGHT NOW.”

Standing, she hurried down the steps towards the garage, dread filling her from the bottom up. It was Day 2 of Oliver trapped in a form of a tiny six week old husky puppy, and she had asked Thea and Laurel to puppy sit him while she tried to sort out some of the more complicated Palmer Tech paperwork. She knew it would be easier to go into the office and have Curtis explain some of the stuff to her, as nowadays he knew more about the company’s R&D section than she did, but she didn’t want to leave Oliver alone in the Lair, despite the fact she knew that his sister and friend would be looking after him.

“ _FELICITY_!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” She called back. What sort of trouble had Oliver got himself into this time? Her worry spiked. As a puppy, Oliver was weak and vulnerable and it was highly likely that he would accidentally injure himself. “Is Oliver okay? Is he hurt?”

“ _JUST GET IN HERE_.”

She was expecting discord and chaos when she entered the garage for some reason. However, everything seemed in order. It looked like Laurel and Thea had been sparring, because the mats were out and they were both in their work-out gear. Her eyes immediately searched for Oliver, and Felicity sighed in relief when she saw the puppy sitting innocently, healthy and unharmed, at the far end of the garage near Oliver’s Ducati, head tilted sideways and ears perked.

“What is it?” she asked alarmedly to the younger Queen, glancing at Oliver again just to reassure herself once again that he was fine, unharmed and not injured in any way. Oliver just tilted his head at her in response, ears perking. “What happened?”

Thea looked livid. “Look what he did.”

Felicity blinked, bemused. “Who what did?”

“What _Oliver_ did,” Laurel hissed.

The blonde looked back at her boyfriend in puppy form. He looked utterly adorable sitting there on his haunches, cocking his head to the side, nose twitching. She couldn’t imagine any creature looking like that could do anything wrong. But this creature happened to be her boyfriend. She narrowed her eyes and gazed into his blue ones, searching for any hint of guilt. There was none. He appeared… smug.

Which meant that Oliver had done something. Something he was proud at, but apparently had very much pissed off the other two women on the team.

“Okay,” Felicity allowed. “Oliver did something.” She paused. “What did he do?” She questioned, striding over to scoop the puppy into her arms, frowning at the other two women.

Laurel just pointed. Felicity turned her head to look and walked over to where Laurel was pointing - and facepalmed.

“I thought you said he was housetrained,” Thea said.

“He’s still Oliver, Thea,” she replied. “Of course he’s housetrained. Which means that if he peed on that structural beam, he did it on purpose.”

“Well, he did,” Laurel responded. “Pee on the structural beam, that is.” She shook her head. “You’ve got to take him out of here. Take him for a walk or - something. You can’t keep him cooped up here, he’s going stir crazy.”

“Crazy enough that he thought it would be a good idea to pee on the structural beam,” Thea continued.

Felicity sighed and looked down at Oliver. His face showed he was self-satisfied and pleased with himself, which at first did not make any sense to her at all, so she flicked through the puppy care book she had memorised in her head and came to a realisation. “Maybe he was just marking his territory.”

Laurel repeated disbelieving, “Marking his territory?”

“Yeah,” Felicity replied awkwardly, shifting Oliver in her arms. “Maybe he felt threatened because, you know, this is kind of his Lair, he constructed it and made it, and therefore, it’s his space, and he’s so small now and you’re both still big, and so he thinks you’re taking up more of his space -” Seeing the expressions they were looking at her with, the blonde snapped, “I don’t know, okay? But he probably had a good reason for doing it!”

“Well, why ever he was doing it, he still did it,” Thea said, disgruntled. “Laurel’s right, you need to take him out.”

Felicity huffed and glanced down at the husky puppy again. He just arched his head up and tickled under her chin again with a small whine. Any anger or frustration that had been contained inside of her, drained out all at once. She deflated and cracked a smile. The puppy’s tongue lolled out and he gave her the dog-equivalent of a grin, his tail whacking against her side as it wagged at a hundred miles per hour.

“Felicity.” Thea drew her attention again. The younger Queen raised her eyebrow. “So are you taking him out, or…?”

“I’ll get him out of your hair,” she promised. “Come on, Oliver.” She started heading back towards the main room before pausing and asking sheepishly, “Can you two… uh…”

“We’ll clean up the pee,” Laurel sighed.

“Thanks. You’re the best.” Felicity grinned.

“I can’t believe this,” Felicity heard Thea mutter furiously as she strode out of the area with the husky puppy in her arms. “I’m cleaning up my brother’s pee.”

“You think that’s weird,” Laurel replied to her. “The sad thing is, this isn’t even the first time I’ve had to clean up Oliver’s pee.” She paused. “He was drunk, okay, it wasn’t - it’s a long story.”

Felicity plonked Oliver down on a metal gurney once she had returned back to the main room in the Lair. She stared at the husky puppy, and he stared back up at her, with wide cobalt eyes simply sparkling with strangely unreadable emotions. The puppy blinked at her, before giving an adorable sneeze that shook his entire tiny body. Felicity tried to stop herself sighing again, but failed. She flicked Oliver’s nose and grinned when he attempted to bat her hand away with his paw.

Felicity tipped her head back. “You’re bored. We need something to do.” She snapped her fingers, dropping her head again as she suggested, “How about we visit Palmer Tech?” Oliver tilted his head side to side. “Okay, you caught me, I do have motive. I need Curtis’ help with my paperwork. But I’m sure he likes dogs!” The puppy threw her his classic unimpressed look. “Look, Oliver, do you want to get out of here or not?”

He huffed but agreed. Felicity shrugged on her jacket and stuffed the paperwork into her bag before scooping the puppy up and taking the garage exit, shifting her company car into gear.

The strange and bewildered looks that Felicity received when walking through the Palmer Tech HQ building’s lobby with the husky puppy in her arms made her want to shrink into herself, but she did the opposite and held her head high. There was no way in hell she was going to let her own employees judge her for bringing a puppy into work. Thankfully, nobody approached her and asked her about why she was carrying a puppy, probably because they were all too scared due to the intensity of the glare she pinned on anybody who even dared to stare at her for more than three seconds. She got more judgy, weird looks aimed her way on the elevator ride up the floor where Curtis’ lab was located, but she ignored them, keeping her mouth firmly set to bite back the scathing comments she wanted to make.

“Curtis?” She called out as soon as the elevator doors shut behind her, walking towards the main desk where she could see her employee’s signature frizzy black hair and colourful shirt. “I need your help with some paperwork.”

“Ms Smoak!” Curtis replied rushedly, turning around and straightening his lopsided glasses hurriedly. Like always, he sported a beaming grin. “I didn’t think you were coming - _is that a puppy?”_

“Yes, it is,” she replied, falling back on the defensive instinctively. “And if you make any sort of comment implying that bringing a puppy into the office is unprofessional, I will be walking out immediately.” Then, for good measure, she added, “And remember that I am still your employer so I can fire you.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Curtis replied, eyes wide. “Other than that he is _completely adorable,_ oh my gosh, can I please hold him?”

“Nope, my puppy,” Felicity replied, turning her body away and cradling Oliver protectively to her chest when Curtis tried to reach out his hands to take him away from her. Then, realising what she had said, she hurriedly continued, “Not ‘my’ my puppy, Oliver and I are dog-sitting him for a friend of mine. But he’s shy and touch sensitive and he doesn’t like strangers, he’s actually already bitten a friend of mine for picking him up without permission.”

“Wow.”

“Yup.” Felicity found a cleared stainless steel worktop and gently placed Oliver down there. “There we go.” The puppy wandered around the edges, examining the distance to the floor, obviously wanting to jump down and explore. After a few seconds, however, the husky seemed content to just sit there happily, ears pricked and blue eyes taking in his surroundings.

Curtis drew up a chair and sat down, crossing his arms while leaning against the counter. He seemed utterly fascinated by the little husky, grinning. “What’s his name?”

She didn’t see any reason to lie. “Oliver,” she admitted.

“Your friend named their puppy after your boyfriend?”

“No,” she answered, making up on the spot: “They named him after Oliver Evans.”

“The American inventor? The guy who invented the high-pressure steam engine?” Curtis nodded. “That’s cool. He’s a Siberian husky, right? Must be barely two months old.” He held out his fingers for Oliver to sniff, because the puppy had finally decided that Curtis was interesting enough to approach, slinking towards him. “Hey, little guy.”

“Do you like dogs?” Felicity questioned curiously as she watched Oliver sniff her employee’s fingers carefully before pawing at them, causing Curtis’ smile to grow.

“Love them,” he answered. “I always had one when I was younger, except Paul’s allergic, so we can’t have one now.” He frowned, watching as the puppy began randomly licking his fingertips. Even Felicity raised her eyebrows at that one. “Well, we can have one, but he’d be sneezing all the time and having to go to hospital for epinephrine injections. Hey, does he know any tricks?”

Felicity shook her head. “He’s six weeks old, Curtis.”

“Yeah, but some people start training their dogs when they’re really young. He might know a few tricks.”

“I honestly don’t know.”

She didn’t know if Oliver was in a sporting mood to actually obey commands like an actual dog, but Curtis looked excited as he stood up and went to his mini fridge to grab - okay, she was going to have a talk with him about keeping that much beef jerky in a company fridge. Oliver seemed to have heard what Curtis had said, because he looked slightly put out.

She lifted Oliver onto the floor, whispering, “Please just play along. He means well.” Oliver huffed. “I’ll let you lick between my toes tonight.” Oliver reared his head back, disgusted. “Don’t act like you don’t like it, you woke me up this morning by doing that.”

Curtis closed the fridge, calling out, “Oliver!”

“Play along,” she hissed one last time at the puppy before straightening and stepping away.

Curtis knelt down so he was crouching in front of the puppy, a massive grin on his face. Oliver looked disgruntled at first but then Curtis waved a piece of beef jerky. Felicity’s hand flew to her mouth to hold in her laugh because Oliver instantly perked to attention, his blue eyes fixed to the dried meat.

“Okay, Oliver, sit.” Oliver looked offended. Felicity shot him a look. Puppy grumbling under his breath, he reluctantly sat. He appeared slightly happier when Curtis rewarded him with a sliver of jerky though, which he wolfed down. “Lie down.” Rolling his eyes, Oliver fell forward onto his forepaws, haunches lowering. Curtis gave him another piece of jerky commenting excitedly to Felicity, “He does know tricks!”

“I guess so,” she commented dryly, grinning at Oliver’s miffed and sulky expression. “Maybe you should see whether or not he can do some others.” Oliver’s _you have betrayed me_ look that he glared at her with was hilarious.

They went through a plethora of other commands, each one making Oliver look more and more pissed off, until after obeying ‘jump’ and Curtis offered more jerky, the puppy nipped her employee’s hand, snatched the beef and dove under the table, refusing to do anymore. Curtis tried to coax her boyfriend out with more beef jerky but Oliver wouldn’t take it.

“Okay, Curtis, that’s enough,” she scolded, finally stepping in. She knelt down and opened up her arms and Oliver immediately ran into them, jumping up onto her knee and then her shoulder so she could hold him there as she stood again. “He’s young and he’s tired, he shouldn’t have to do tricks at his age.”

“That was amazing though!” Curtis gushed. “He’s only six weeks old and he’s learn to ‘paw’ and ‘jump’! You should get your friend to enter him into an obedience show or something. Or maybe an agility competition!”

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” she snorted. “All this aside, I did actually come up here for work, so…”

“Right! Right, you said paperwork.” Curtis scrambled to get his desk back in order, trying to find a pen. “Sorry, I just, uh, puppies are kind of distracting. What do you need me to do?”

The paperwork, with Curtis helping her, only took thirty minutes to complete. The two humans allowed Oliver to explore the workshop freely, and only intervened to stop him when he seemed too curious about something or tried to climb objects. Once the paperwork was finished, Curtis agreed to run it up to one of the board directors for her, along with some of his own reports, telling her that she should take Oliver away, only because he had become particularly intrigued by the prototypes of the power cell and was getting a little too close to them for comfort.

Felicity was about to suggest they head back to the Lair, as she couldn’t really think of anything else they could do, when her cell phone beeped. She dropped Oliver down onto the passenger seat of the car in his nest of blankets, smiling down at his innocent expression as she fished out her phone and checked her texts.

_From: LANCE :) - To: Felicity <3 - SCPD found CCTV footage of some Ghosty activity last night. Might offer some clues as to their central op, I dunno. Mayb u could do some tech magic?_

_To: LANCE :) - From: Felicity <3 - Cool. Was that only copy? I have an algorithm I think could work, but might need to digitally enhance._

_From: LANCE :) - To: Felicity <3 - Only copy. D wanted me delete everything else. Want me to drop off at campaign office 2nite?_

_To: LANCE :) - From: Felicity <3 - Nah, nothing to do at moment, I’ll come pick up. Where r u? Office? Oliver with me, that ok?_

_From: LANCE :) - To: Felicity <3 - Apartment. U can bring O._

“Captain Lance found some CCTV footage of some sloppy Ghost activity,” Felicity told Oliver as she put her phone away. “He thinks it might help us find their central operation, but Darhk wants him to delete all the copies of it, so he needs us to take the tape as soon as possible. Do you mind if we detour?”

The puppy seemed indifferent about the idea, so Felicity put the car into gear and drove them towards Lance’s apartment. Oliver perked up when they parked on the curb, recognising the area and trying to jump onto the dashboard to press his face against the window, except Felicity kept him pinned to his seat with one hand, wincing every so often when he tried to nip her finger tips. Because his puppy teeth were freakishly sharp.

Lance was brushing his teeth when he opened the door to them, letting them inside. Felicity and Oliver glanced at each other as they waited, standing, for him to spit out and clean up. He looked vaguely embarrassed when he returned and cleared the half a dozen empty mugs on his coffee table, muttering under his breath. He didn't seem surprised nor bothered about Oliver’s current state anymore, simply reaching out to briefly scratch between his ears, ignoring the archer’s low grumble of discontent.

“Do you mind if I put Oliver on the floor?” She asked.

“Go ahead,” Lance answered from the kitchen as he put the mugs in the washing up. “Do you want something to drink?”

“Do you have any OJ? I probably need the vitamins.”

“Sure. I’ll bring you a glass and I’ll grab the tape.”

Felicity winced. “Please don’t tell me it’s an actual video tape.”

Lance looked offended, appearing in the doorway briefly. “Our tech isn’t that old. It’s a DVD.”

“Oh thank god,” she muttered under her breath, ignoring Lance’s short glower.

The captain returned with the DVD in a plastic case in one hand and her glass of orange juice in the other, putting it down on the coffee table as he motioned for her to take a seat. Felicity allowed Oliver to jump out of her arms onto the floor, shaking his fur out, before settling back into the couch whilst she watched Oliver bound around the living room curiously. Appearing amused by the archer’s state, Lance smirked at the puppy as he grabbed his laptop, popping the disk in so she could take a look at the video. It was just some grainy video of some Ghosts running through the Glades with semi-automatics in hand. They had obviously just ransacked a place because most of them were carrying duffels. It probably wasn’t going to be very useful, but Lance obviously thought it was, and it would be rude not to accept it, especially since he was putting his life on the line for them, working undercover with Darhk.

“Thanks, I’ll run it down to the Lair later tonight,” she said, placing the DVD carefully back into its case and then into her bag. “How’d it go last night by the way? Thea and Laurel give you any trouble?”

“They bickered a little over the comms,” Lance replied. “Talked a lot about his puppy antics actually.” He motioned to Oliver. “But other than that, it all went well.”

She stood, smiling softly and reaching for her bag as she commented, “Glad to hear. I better get back to the -” A pained yowl immediately sounded and Felicity leapt back, her heartbeat skyrocketing. She had accidentally stepped on one of Oliver’s paws, causing him to yelp out in agony and react by running head first into the coffee table, knocking the half full glass of orange juice onto his fur. “Frack, Oliver, are you okay?!”

The puppy retreated into the furthest corner of the room, licking his hurt paw and growling whenever Felicity or Lance tried to approach him. Orange juice was dripping down onto the carpet from his soaked pelt. His paw didn’t look badly injured, and probably just ached, but the husky was still reluctant to let the humans near him, falling back onto his instincts to hide and lick his wounds.

Felicity tried to reach her hand out to him to offer some support, but the wild-eyed look he sent her, along with a fierce growl, told her Oliver was still too spooked to accept any kind of human contact. His time on the island - and, significantly, _off_ it - had trained him to reject any threatening human contact after receiving an injury, and although Felicity wasn’t exactly threatening, the shock of being hurt by her, even accidentally, must have messed up his threat processing.

“I’m so sorry, hun, it was an accident,” Felicity said worriedly, crouching down a safe distance away from the puppy so she wouldn’t get scratched when he tried to swipe defensively with his claws. “Are you okay? Does it hurt?”

Oliver didn’t so much as look at her, still focused on licking his trodden-on paw with his tiny tail between his legs. His body language told her that he was anxious, and also scared, with his eyes pressed flat back against his head and narrowed blue eyes.

Realising that in his tensed, crouched position, the puppy was more prepared to run off to hide than run to her, Felicity moved so instead of crouching she was sitting cross legged on the floor, Lance standing a few feet behind her as to make sure Oliver wasn’t spooked. “I’m sorry, Oliver, I didn’t meant to step on you. It’s okay, it’s safe and nobody here is going to hurt you. Well, on purpose.”

Grumbling, the puppy rose and slunk over to her, tail once again between his legs. He looked more pissed off than hurt or afraid now though, and relief surged through her. He still trusted her enough to know that she wouldn’t hurt him purposely and that she would keep him safe. Ignoring the fact that he was covered in OJ, she scooped him up for a hug and embraced him tightly, burying her head into his furry shoulder, sighing. In response, the puppy began licking the side of her neck quickly, whining. Lance was watching fondly, having picked up the glass that was miraculously still intact.

“He’ll probably need a bath,” Lance interrupted, prompting Felicity to release the husky from her arms so he was sitting at her knees. “You can’t exactly drive him back to the Lair soaked in orange juice.”

Felicity grimaced, motioning to his bathroom. “Do you mind…?” 

Lance rolled his eyes and opened the door, showing them inside. “Bath’s a bit small, but he’s tiny so it won’t matter. I don’t know whether or not you can use normal shower gel on puppies, but it’s worth a try.”

“I read in a book that it’s fine, as long as we don’t use too much.”

“We?” Felicity shot him a pleading look. Lance blanched. “You want me to help you give your puppy boyfriend a bath? Felicity, you’re like a daughter to me, and I love you, sweetheart, but there in no way on this earth that I am going to give Oliver Queen a bath, no matter what form he is in.”

“Fair enough,” she admitted. Oliver seemed to have finally digested that they were going to give him a bath, and gone stock still. “Oliver? It’s okay. We just need to wash the orange juice out of your fur.”

Before Felicity even knew what was happening, and way before she could even react to stop him, Oliver was wriggling out of her reach and underneath Lance’s couch to hide. She groaned. Lance smirked, so she glared at him, and that smirk very quickly vanished. Realising she wasn’t in a joking mood, Lance knelt down, reached under the couch and dragged Oliver out by one of his hindpaws. The puppy snarled adorably and tried to turn and bite the captain, but Lance didn’t seem to care, just picking him up and holding him as Felicity ran the bath.

It was unreal how violently Oliver squirmed as Lance lowered him into the slightly warm bubbly water. Felicity took over from the police captain straight away, because as soon as the puppy’s hindpaws were dipped into the water, he started howling so loudly that he had to cover his ears. In a stark different to before, when Oliver’s body language had shown worry and fear, the puppy was now simply angry- his ears were erect, twitching forwards, and his lips were curled back with his sharp canines displayed. Felicity was pretty sure that if his fur hadn’t been wet, it would have been bristling.

Felicity began scrubbing his tiny body with shower gel. Oliver’s yowling continued. Five minutes later, with the puppy screaming grating on her ears and triggering the start of a killer headache, she said loudly, “Oliver, shut up! Stop being such a Drama Queen. Suck it up, if you don’t have this bath, you’ll have sticky fur for the rest of the week.” She really wasn’t in the mood for this kind of thing.

There was a flash. Felicity whipped around furiously to see Lance standing near the back wall with his phone out, snapping pictures of the husky puppy in the bath and her up in her elbows in soapy water, sleeves soaked. Instantly, the captain shoved his phone away and mumbled something about grabbing a jug to pour more water over him, practically sprinting out of the bathroom. Felicity’s glare followed him out of the room.

The puppy had finally quietened. He allowed Felicity to scrub his entire body with shower wash. It shocked her to discover how skinny he truly was in puppy form. She now understood what Lyla had been saying about being able to feel Oliver’s ribcage; it was becoming obvious to her that his fur was a lot thicker than she had originally thought. Glancing up at the puppy’s face, a pang of guilt reverberated through Felicity’s body, only because he looked hurt and upset, unhappy in his position.

Lance let himself back into the bathroom quietly, plastic measuring jug in hand. “Got the jug.” He sounded pleased with himself.

Felicity grabbed the jug from him with a brief smile and thank you before starting to pour water over Oliver to wash off the shower gel.

“Maybe you should add some warmer water in there,” Lance suggested from behind. “He’s starting to shiver.”

Felicity frowned before turning back to Oliver, about to question what the police captain was going on about, but then she saw the puppy and her heart sank. He wasn’t shivering because the water was cold. The husky puppy’s tiny form was vibrating from fear and his blue eyes were vacant and blank, signifying that he was stuck in a flashback. Swallowing, she reached towards to gently stroke her finger across his paw, waiting to see what his response was. When he didn’t lash out at her or flinch, she figured she was safe to touch him, and she leapt into action, wrangling a towel and quickly lifting the puppy out. Wrapping Oliver in the towel and clutching him to her chest, she hurried out of the bathroom into the living room.

“What -” Lance started to say, looking confused by her actions.

She interrupted him swiftly, informing him shortly, “He’s having a flashback. It was probably brought on by the water. We need to get him dry and warm - do you have a hot water bottle?” 

“I’ll get it.” Lance vanished into the kitchen, leaving Felicity sitting on the couch with the trembling puppy seated on her lap.

Oliver’s breathing seemed raspy and shallow, which worried the blonde hacker immensely. His shaking was much worse than when he was having that nightmare at John and Lyla’s. What concerned her more though was the fact that he was silent, not whimpering or whining, but just reacting physically to whatever flashback he was trapped in, that she had no doubt involved water.

Lance came back with a hot water bottle, sporting a grim expression. He sat down next to Felicity, their sides brushing and carefully helped her wrap the hot water bottle inside of the blankets so it was against Oliver’s chest. It was only when the captain took one of Felicity’s hands and encased it with her own that she realised that she was half-soaked with soapy water and shaking herself. Trying to ignore it, she hugged Oliver closer, but there was some part of her worrying that her being wet might have been making his flashback worse.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Lance murmured, offering her a tissue. Felicity sniffed, closing her eyes. She was crying. Of course she was crying. Stupid, stupid. “It’s okay. I’ll take him if you want to clean - well, dry - up.”

“I don’t wanna leave him,” she whispered. Her voice was hoarse, but she didn’t care. Oliver was the one she needed to care about. The one she needed to soothe and support. “I’m not leaving him, not for one second.”

“And I’m not going to make you,” he answered gently.

Blinking back her tears, she bit her lip. She needed to dry herself up and gain control over her emotions. She was no use to Oliver when she was a crying mess. But she didn’t want to let him go. She wanted to hold him, comfort him, cling to him, because she loved him from the bottom of her heart and she hated seeing him in pain. Reluctantly, she gathered the trembling, curled up, scrappy ball of fur in her arms and very cautiously handed him over to Lance, who accepted and cradled him like he had the vulnerability of a newborn baby. She had to leave the room then, her arms crossed tightly over her chest as guilt weighed down her heart as if it was encased in lead.

Five minutes later, with a better headset, she returned to the living room, dry and tear-free. Lance, sensing that she wanted to hold the puppy as soon as possible, handed Oliver over to her only moments after she had re-entered the room. The puppy was responding a little more, blinking wearily and weakly moving his paws. She wanted to sob in relief.

“Felicity.” She turned her head towards the captain, who was looking at her sympathetically. “It’s not your fault.”

“Oh, I think you’ll find that it is, Captain,” she murmured, feeling like shame was drowning her. She had given Oliver that bath, she hadn’t realised he was being triggered - she had trapped him in that flashback.

Lance shook his head. “You had no idea that this would happen. How could you have known that a bath would cause him to have a flashback?” She didn’t reply. “Right. You didn’t. It’s not your fault.”

“I should have realised,” she retorted thickly.

The captain shot her an immensely sympathetic look with a huff, taking a gentle hold of her elbow to guide Felicity to sit down on the couch. Trying to take a seat as smoothly as possible, not wanting to jolt Oliver at all, Felicity allowed Lance to support her back as she lowered herself into the cushions. The husky puppy was still lying bonelessly in her arms, not holding any of his own weight, but he made a small noise and managed to lift head up to nuzzle under her chin. She didn’t deserve his affection - it was her fault he was so shaken in the first place, she the last person he should have been going to for comfort.

“I recognise that look,” Lance said, taking a careful seat beside her and pressing his entire side into hers, obviously trying to offer her some physical reassurance with his weight. To his credit, it did work, helping the blonde relax minutely. “You playing the blame game? Thought we only had to worry about Oliver doing that. He’s the champ of that.”

“Yeah, well, this time it’s warranted,” Felicity muttered, threading her fingers through the puppy’s fur on his scruff. “Should’ve known the water would be a trigger for him… god, Oliver’s nearly drowned several times over, he was water boarded - of course he hates water. The bath was a stupid idea.”

Lance raised an eyebrow at her, leaning back and entwining his hands. “He take showers?”

Felicity frowned. “Yes.”

“And he went swimming with you in Bali -” When Felicity glanced confusedly at him, Lance cleared his throat embarrassedly. “Yeah, I, uh, might have seen a few of those vacation photos. Had to make sure he was treating you right, didn’t I?”

“That’s sweet,” she smiled weakly.

Lance waved a hand as if he could bat that statement away. “Point is, Oliver’s been in water hundreds of times. He’s had showers and gone swimming and heaven knows what else since he got back from Lian Yu.” His eyes softened. “So you couldn’t have known that water would be a trigger for him, sweetheart.” He paused before asking cautiously, “Do you even know what his triggers are?”

“Of course,” Felicity responded, slightly offended at his implication that she _didn’t._ “What kind of girlfriend would I be if I didn’t know what his triggers were?”

“You’d be surprised at how large a portion of the PTSD-sufferers population don’t tell their significant others or family members about their triggers and end up having mental breakdowns and flashbacks,” Lance told her seriously. “We’ve had a few of those cases in the department. Awful, really. Truly horrible. And really I’m glad that Oliver was sensible enough to open up to one person who understand him the most.” Felicity blushed. “Just saying what I know’s true. It’s not exactly a secret that when the kid first came back nearly everybody who knew him gave him hell. Me included. None of us even thought to think about what mental issues he would be struggling with. Which is why I’m honestly relieved to hear that you gave him that safe space where he could let loose.”

The puppy made a small faint yipping noise, making both of them look down at him. Oliver was now snuffling into Felicity’s neck, much more animated than before, although obviously he was still weakened and shaken. Felicity was forced into a smile when the husky scraped his rough puppy tongue over her cheek and nuzzled into her hair.

“Something that adorable should be illegal,” the captain grumbled, standing and brushing his trousers off. Lance motioned to the puppy with one hand, the other being placed supportively on her shoulder. “Maybe you should take him home, let him sleep it off. He’s sure as hell gonna be tired out.”

At that moment, both their cell phones rang. Simultaneously. Clutching Oliver to her chest with one hand and the other moving to pull her phone out of her back pocket, she frowned down at Thea’s name on her screen. Felicity glanced up to see Lance showing her his phone’s screen, on which Diggle’s name was flashing.

“If they’re calling us both at once, it can’t be good,” Lance told her.

Despite the fact that it was the middle of the afternoon, a group of Ghosts were trying to lure out Team Arrow by attacking a hospital to steal the radioactive sources used in x-rays and to treat cancer. They were holding over two hundred people hostage. When the police captain flicked on the TV, there were already news reports playing live helicopter footage with presenters screeching about it being an act of terrorism.

As soon as Lance hung up on Diggle, his phone wouldn’t stop ringing or buzzing. Shooting her a wild-eyed, apologetic look, the captain departed hurriedly, heading to the police station to try and mobilise some emergency response police units, yelling back at Felicity to keep in touch.

Oliver kept strangely silent as she drove like a maniac to get them back to the Lair. Usually Felicity would have paid more attention to him, fussing over him since she was still worried about his mental state after his flashback, but this Ghost situation was taking up all of her focus. Thea kept her informed on the situation, telling her on loud speaker about the schematics for the hospital building she had managed to pull up and that the team were suiting up, ready to head out as soon as she arrived. Grabbing Oliver, which caused him to yelp, Felicity practically sprinted to the side entrance, as fast as she could in heels, and threw herself at her workstation, putting Oliver down immediately so she could get her hands on her keyboards.

“Everybody grab a comm unit, we need to all keep in touch in order to safely get all of those civilians out!” None of the rest of the team looked at all surprised by the blonde hacker suddenly starting to bark orders. Often in very stressful situations, on the worst missions, Felicity’s patience would break and she would take over the leadership she normally left to Oliver and Diggle. “I’m going to connect with Captain Lance in a few minutes so we’re updated on the position of his police units; they’re going to focus on getting the hospital patients out and on their way to the other Glades hospital, while we focus more on stopping those Ghosts from getting away with those radioactive chemicals.”

She expected everybody to jump into action, but there was hesitation rippling throughout the team. She turned back, ready to open her mouth and command them to get their asses into gear, because people were in danger, but then Thea asked, “What about Ollie?”

Felicity blanched. Crap, yes, she had forgotten about her boyfriend in puppy form. She stood, searching for him with her eyes, and she bit her lip when she caught sight of him desperately scraping his forepaws on the leg of the Green Arrow suit, which had been returned to its biometric case the night the team had arrived back with the husky puppy in tow. He was whining and growling frantically, obviously extremely eager to get back out in the field.

“Does he seriously think he’s gonna be able to come with when he’s… like that?” Laurel asked quietly, her voice projecting a tone of pity. “He’d barely be able to protect himself, let alone dozens of civilians.”

“Oliver. Hey, Oliver.” Diggle knelt down and gently pulled the whimpering husky puppy away from the Green Arrow suit, holding him back with one massive hand on his chest. It was when you compared the puppy to Diggle that you realised how tiny he actually was. “I’m sorry, man, you can’t come out into the field with us. It’s too dangerous.”

An alert popped up onto Felicity’s cell phone. Her heart dropped. “Guys, Captain Lance just confirmed there are casualties, they don’t know how many.”

“We need to get out there,” Thea urged.

Oliver was struggling to get away from his partner, still attempting to get his supersuit off its mannequin, despite the fact that he was small enough to curl up inside the hood. “No, Oliver. You’ll get yourself killed,” Diggle told him firmly, wrapping his hands around the puppy’s middle to drag him back and away further. “You’re staying here, and I know you’re not going to like it, don’t growl at me like that, but you’re just going to have to - _DAMMIT!”_ The man leapt backwards, hand cradled to his chest as he shot the puppy an angry look. The husky had whipped around and sank his tiny canines into Diggle’s palm when he had squeezed around his stomach too hard. “Goddammit, Oliver! Are you serious?! Did you seriously just do that!?”

Snarling, Oliver stalked off with his ears flat against his skull, teeth bared. Diggle took a threatening step towards him, and the puppy let out a huge snarl that just as well could have belonged to a wolf before slinking off to squeeze underneath the couch, exactly where he had hidden before. 

“He bit you?” Laurel sounded disbelieving. “Let me have a look.” On observing the wound, she too looked furious. “Oliver!”

“How bad is is?” Felicity asked, swallowing. There was a pit in her stomach. She never would have imagined Oliver biting one of the team.

“S’fine,” Diggle replied darkly. “Hardly bleeding. Not going to need stitches, but needs a bandage for sure.” He aimed a poisonous glare towards the puppy. “You know, that puppy’s starting to become more trouble than he’s worth.”

Felicity was appalled. “John! That’s _Oliver!_ He’s not just some random husky puppy off the street!” 

“Might as well be,” the man muttered, stalking off to the med table to wrap a bandage around his hand, Laurel assisting him.

Felicity tried not to feel too enraged by his words - he was just pissed off that Oliver had bitten him, he didn’t mean what he was saying. And he certainly didn’t believe it either - their conversation about Oliver’s mental health was still fresh on her mind, and Diggle wouldn’t say something like that and mean it when he knew how emotionally vulnerable the archer was, and how helpless he was feeling.

“I’m not going to say anything for now,” she said calmly, in her dangerous voice. The team snapped to attention - all of them knew her quiet warning tone. “Because I know that you don’t mean that. But we will be discussing what you just said later, because to be honest, I think we _all_ need to have a conversation about how we’ve been treating Oliver since he was turned into a puppy.”

Diggle was fuming, but he muttered his agreement. Laurel and Thea nodded as well. They went back to suiting up, and were done within a minute, only pausing to grab a comm and wait for Felicity to link it into the system before jogging to the garage. When Diggle came up to her to pick up his comms unit, Oliver darted out and gave another loud snarl at him, not afraid to present a challenge to the huge man the puppy saw as a threat to being the alpha. He quickly hid again, but his growls echoed around the room. Diggle ignored him though, which made Felicity heave a sigh of relief. She really didn’t want her boys fighting, especially when Oliver couldn’t defend himself properly.

“Come here, you,” she said crossly, as soon as they were alone, and waiting for the team to arrive on location before they began the operation. Oliver crawled out grumpily from where he was crouching under one of the metal gurneys, reluctantly clambering the stairs to join her. “Didn’t like the truth tea John was selling, hmm?” The puppy chuffed unhappily. “And that made it okay for you to bite him?” When no kind of reply came, she turned her back on him, swinging towards her computers. “If you ignore me, I’m going to ignore you.” 

Batting on her leg. She ignored it. More batting, and then whining. She sighed, turning around and lifting the puppy onto her lap. Immediately he nuzzled under her chin and licked her cheek, trying to apologise, although it wasn’t her that he needed to apologise to.

“That wasn’t nice, Oliver,” she informed him, flicking his tiny nose and smiling weakly when it twitched madly in response. “I know you're having a hard time like this, but it doesn’t mean you get to take your frustrations out on everybody else. John was just trying to help.” She ran her hand through his fur. “How are you feeling? I mean, earlier… with that flashback…”

The puppy averted his eyes and simply licked her cheek again fondly. He cocked his head at the computer screens curiously, making another sort of huffing sound, placing one of his forepaws beside the keyboard. A text from Lance came through - the police had located in which rooms the Ghosts were in, and were waiting for Team Arrow to take over. Pretty much the whole force trusted that the Green Arrow and his allies were on their side, and were going to be able to support them. They were going to be a little suspicious though, she suspected, when the Green Arrow himself wasn’t there.

“ _We’re on site, Felicity,”_ Diggle announced. “ _Speedy and Black Canary are going to take the south entrance with an ERT backing them up. Captain Lance and I are taking the north.”_ He paused, before muttering, “ _Feels weird not covering Oliver’s six.”_

“Code names, please, Dig,” she chided, beginning to hack into the hospital’s network to access their CCTV cameras. Oliver sat in the middle of her lap calmly, listening in. “Which reminds me, you really do need a code name. Speedy, Black Canary, take two lefts and then a right, cafeteria should be directly ahead of you, over three dozen civilians trapped inside.”

“ _Right, Dig, you and the captain head towards the Ghosts, we’ll get these people out to safety and then join you,”_ Laurel said.

Felicity watched on CCTV as Thea and Laurel began helping civilians out of the hospital and the patients get to the waiting ambulances, that had pulled up outside the south entrance per the ERT team that had been with the two vigilantes’ instructions. They seemed to have everything under control, so she switched her attention to Diggle and Lance, but not before dragging another swivel chair over and dropping the husky puppy into it so he wasn’t impeding her typing.

The two men were slowly heading towards the location, guns up and carefully looking for any Ghosts that were going to try and get the jump on them. It was kind of the Ghosts’ MOs to attempt to ambush the vigilantes before they could get the chance to do the same to them. But everything was quiet. Too quiet. Oliver seemed to sense that too, and the fact that something was wrong, because he let out a long whine.

“ _Is that Oliver?”_ Lance asked, surprised.

“That is the _Green Arrow_ ,” she emphasised his codename, “And yes.” When Oliver whimpered again, trying to reach up to bat at the screen, his tiny body twisting nervously, Felicity relayed, “He thinks something’s wrong.”

“ _Don’t think so. It’s quiet. Everything’s okay this end,”_ Diggle replied.

“I think that’s what he’s worried about,” Felicity responded, biting her lip. “Keep your head on a swivel, Dig.”

At precisely that moment, a flurry of gunfire began, except not in Diggle and Lance’s section of the building. A few quick taps on her keyboard and turning to face the screen monitoring Speedy and Black Canary revealed to Felicity the reason why there were no Ghosts near Diggle and Lance - the Ghosts were firing on the civilians the two female vigilantes were trying to help out of the hospital. Felicity immediately tried to get in contact with them through the comms, but something seemed to be cutting up the connection, blocking off the frequency. Thea and Laurel were on their own.

As she hurriedly yelled to Diggle and Lance to get back down to south entrance to help protect the civilians and patients, and back-up Thea and Laurel, Oliver went absolutely crazy, making a massive leap onto the desk the monitors were on and howling. His paws sent her keyboard scattering to the floor and for a moment she had to cover her ears, his howling was so loud.

“ _Felicity, get him to shut up!”_ Diggle shouted.

There were dozens, maybe hundreds, of civilians relying on her and the team to protect them. Felicity couldn’t let Oliver, despite his good intentions, distract the team. Hating what she was about to do, she stood, stepped back and seized Oliver around his belly, underneath his… armpits? He yelped and struggled, trying to turn his head around to nip at her to let him go.

“Sorry, Oliver,” she apologised, wincing, carrying the squirming bundle of fur over to the bathroom and placing him down inside, using her foot against his tiny chest to keep him in there as she closed the door behind her, whispering, “Please, please don’t hate me for this.”

Oliver was already howling by the time she got back to her computers. He sounded completely distraught, and every minute Felicity left him trapped inside the bathroom, his howls became more and more wild and upset, increasing her self-hatred. Every single time his howl tapered off into whimpers and whines, she swallowed, trying to tell herself it was for the best, so she could concentrate, guide the team, stop the Ghosts and save lives without any distractions.

The rest of the mission went badly. As in, _really_ badly. Laurel got brushed with a bullet on her arm and Thea took several bad hits from a Ghost. Between the four of them, they did manage to drive the Ghosts off, but Darhk’s minions escaped with a barrel full of radioactive source. Lance sent a squadron of police cars chasing after them before he helped Diggle get Thea and Laurel in the team van, since they were too injured to ride their bikes, and get back to the Lair. Content that the team were safe and heading back for treatment, Felicity finished up her programmes and switched all the screens to the news stations, before taking a deep breath and striding towards the bathroom.

As soon as she opened the door, the tiny ball of fur shot out past her legs and up towards her computer platform. The husky puppy moved so fast she could barely settle her eyes on him. Closing the bathroom door behind her, Felicity swiftly moved to try and catch sight of the puppy, who she couldn’t imagine was going to act particularly pleasant to her after she had locked Oliver in a small, reasonably smelly room with no windows and only shower heads to keep him company.

“Oliver? Honey?” She said softly. “I’m really sorry. I know it’s going to be hard for you to forgive me for this, and trust me, I feel awful but -” She cut off, jaw dropping. “Oh. My… God.”

Suddenly, her breath was caught in her throat, her legs felt like jelly and nothing in her mind made sense.

Because Oliver seemed to have magically doubled in size.

* * *


	4. ~ Part 4 ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hurrah!! AND we're back! Hope you all enjoy this part :) Thanks for all your support and love!

* * *

“This does not make any sense _at all_.”

Diggle and Lance were patching up Laurel and Thea, and Felicity was tracking the police attempting to follow the Ghosts who had stolen a barrel of radioactive sources, but despite the fact they were all busy, occupied with their own tasks, all of their attentions were always brought to the elephant in the room.

The elephant that happened to be the husky puppy sitting at the top of the stairs on the computer platform, twice the size he had been an hour ago. Whilst before Oliver’s head had reached Felicity’s mid-shin, his height had doubled so he now reached just above her knee. His body was more robust and stocky as well, as he appeared to have grown into his paws, his fur becoming more streaky - his pelt was now more grey than black, with a dark streak running down his spine to the tip of his tail, which was curled around his paws as he sat, watching the team with hawk-like eyes, except they were a dazzling bright cobalt blue. Now grown, he more resembled a young wolf rather than a tiny husky puppy.

“So you shut him in a bathroom and then bam, thirty minutes later he’s doubled in size?” Thea questioned, looking confused but at least not freaking out as Felicity had done when her eyes had fallen on the puppy - was Oliver even really a puppy anymore? The younger Queen winced as Lance twinged her ankle, asking disbelievingly, “How can that even happen? That sounds impossible.”

According to Caitlin, though, it was completely possible. Felicity called her and Barry whisked them over with a crackle of yellow lightning so that the Team Flash doctor could give Oliver another examination. Oliver was reluctant to let Felicity near him this time, more easily accepting Caitlin’s touches and her requests; he was probably still pissed off with the blonde hacker for locking him in the bathroom. Everybody else mostly stayed out of the way, letting Caitlin do her thing, with Felicity watching on - Thea, Diggle and Laurel observed amusedly as Lance questioned Barry on metahumans and speedsters, as the captain still seemed to be in denial, the team laughing as Barry enthusiastically started going on about the Rogues and the metahuman wing at Iron Heights.

“He’s thirty seven pounds, which is just above the average for a 5 month old, if you want to look at it that way, Siberian husky puppy,” Caitlin informed them, checking Oliver’s teeth and ears before examining his paws. “He’s larger than average, but he’s perfectly healthy.”

“We’re a little more worried about the fact that he seemed to double in size within half an hour,” Felicity replied.

“There is actually an explanation for that,” Caitlin reassured her, beginning to pack away while Oliver licked between the fingers of her left hand. “I told you he’s only going to remain in this form for about a week, before whatever the metahuman did to him wears off. During that time, his body is going to adjust to prepare for the change back into his usual human form, by maturing and growing in size, so it’s an easier transformation. He should reach the age of a fully matured husky by day seven.”

Felicity breathed out in relief. “What brought the change on? I mean, he didn’t grow bigger last night…”

“You said you shut him in the bathroom?” Caitlin questioned, and Felicity flushed in guilt again, biting her lip in shame as she nodded. “It was probably the strong wave of emotions that he experienced when that happened that triggered the growth. Frustration, anger, fear, stress, that sort of thing.”

Felicity’s breath caught in her throat, almost making her literally choke on her shame “Would it have hurt?” She felt like crying at the thought of Oliver’s whimpers, howls and cries from earlier having been not from distress but from actual pain due to his sudden growth. She had locked him in there at the time because she had thought he was being distracting and she couldn’t let the mission go sideways, but it had quickly dawned on her that she had been an idiot. An awful, horrible, cruel idiot.

“The growth?” Caitlin carefully ran her hands along Oliver’s sides, checking his ribs and spine. “Considering he doubled in size in such a small period of time, it would have caused some serious pain, yes.”

“Shit,” the blonde whispered, finding she wasn’t able to break her eyes away from the husky now. The stiff way in which he was sitting made a lot more sense now. He had been whining and screaming because of the agony of his bones growing inside of his body and his skin stretching out, and she had just ignored him. What kind of human being was she? What kind of _girlfriend_ was she?

“So we just continue with our normal routines and wait as he grows bigger?” Diggle questioned, finishing up with dealing with Laurel’s wounds to join Felicity by her side, arms crossed.

“Yep,” Caitlin responded cheerfully. “Although you’re going to have to make some adjustments every time he grows.” She clapped a hand down on Oliver’s back, as he didn’t seem opposed to touch today, before scratching under the husky’s chin, smiling when his eyes rolled back in pleasure. “So he’s going to eat a lot more now, and he’s going to need a walk every day, about an hour long, if you want him to burn off energy. Huskies are notoriously energetic and playful dogs. He’ll still be teething as well, so some chews would be good, and due to that teething he’s going to be nippy.”

“More so than he already was?” Diggle grumbled, glancing down at the bandage wrapped around his hand sporting the bite injury from before. “Great. Just great.”

“Here’s the thing,” Caitlin continued. “Huskies are intelligent and challenging dogs. Oliver’s going to want to be the alpha, and he’s going to do a lot of things to try and prove it. He’s going to howl, he’s going to run off, he’s going to become destructive if he’s left alone for too long or doesn’t get his own way. One of you needs to step up and agree to become the leader of the pack, and you can’t be afraid of getting him into line if he misbehaves or disobeys your direct orders.”

Everybody turned around and pointed at Felicity. She blushed, playing with her hands nervously. She would have nominated Diggle herself, but seeing as everybody seemed to think she was the right person for the job, she agreed meekly, “Okay, so I’m his alpha.”

“I thought you’d be,” Caitlin smirked. “I can’t really help much more, I just recommend you research huskies a little bit more so you understand Oliver’s temperament and quirks while he’s in this form.”

“Cait?” Barry was glancing down at his cell phone. “We have to go. The Rogues just broke into the Central Citywide Bank for a pizza party. _Again._ Cisco and Joe sent Hartley out there but _apparently_ he just provided them all with ice-cream and turned it into a group therapy session.” Barry paused and frowned at the text. “With a therapy cat? Do therapy cats even exist? I didn’t know Hartley had a cat. Cisco sent a picture - oh, that is a cute cat.” He blinked and glanced up at the doctor, saying sheepishly, “Yeah, I think we should probably head back and get Hart out of there. Not for his own safety - but for the Rogues’. And before Lisa and Shawna adopt him.”

“Central City is fucked up,” Lance grumbled.

“That’s an understatement,” Laurel added under her breath.

Caitlin hugged Felicity briefly before stooping down to press a kiss to Oliver’s forehead, telling them, “If you need anything, throw me a text. Barry’ll get me here in under five minutes.” She whipped back around, punching the speedster gently on the arm, “Okay, Scarlet Speedster, let’s go and fetch Hartley. He really needs to stop crashing the Rogues’ heists to turn them into counselling meetings.”

With another flash of lightning, they were both gone. Felicity was left standing over the husky puppy that was now sitting calmly on his haunches on the floor, staring up at her challengingly. She inhaled deeply. Right. She could keep her boyfriend under control when he was human, she could manage it when he was a puppy.

“S’just past two am,” Lance grunted, stretching out and rubbing his back. “I’m heading out. Anybody want a ride?”

“We’ll take up that offer,” Laurel yawned, bumping shoulders with Thea, who looked equally as exhausted. “Don’t think either of us could drive without falling asleep at the wheel. We’ll see you guys tomorrow. Well, later today. Probably only in a few hours time.”

“Hold up,” Felicity stopped them. “I said earlier we were all going to have a discussion, and none of us are getting out of that. Everybody park your butt on a chair around the conference table. We’re talking about this Oliver-as-a-puppy situation now before any of us get the chance to accidentally make things worse.”

Diggle exchanged a tired glance with Thea. “Let’s get this over with.”

Thea hopped into her seat first, Laurel and Lance sliding in on each side of her. Diggle seemed reluctant to sit, but a fierce scathing look from Diggle made him shrink down into a chair. Reaching down to pick Oliver up, Felicity plonked the puppy down on top of the conference table, settling down in her own seat. As soon as she was sitting down, the husky scrambled towards her, his massive paws slipping adorably on the glass until he tumbled down into her lap.

“Aw,” Laurel smiled.

“You see, that -” Felicity nodded towards the Black Canary, “Is exactly why we need this discussion. When you see this -” She lifted Oliver into her arms and snuggled him to her chest. In response, the husky’s tail thumped against her stomach and he licked her cheek. “What do you think of Oliver?”

“That he’s adorable and cute?” Thea said. “And I would do anything in the world to be in your position cuddling with him right now?”

“Would you be thinking the same thing if he was in human form?”

“Uh, if he was in human form and sitting on your lap, licking your face, I’d probably arrest him for public indecency,” Lance replied. Seconds after saying that, his eyes widened and he leant back, exhaling a soft, “Oh,” of realisation. “I see what you’re saying, sweetheart.” He turned to the rest of them. “All of our views of Oliver have changed now he’s in puppy form. We’re not thinking about him the same way.”

“How would you guys enjoy being stuck in tiny puppy form, helpless and unable to speak?” Felicity raised an eyebrow, stroking down Oliver’s spine. “Because I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have fun being teased, ridiculed, stroked and treated like a pet dog… especially if you had self-esteem issues, anxiety and touch sensitivity.”

“Oh shit,” Thea murmured.

“What’s worse,” Felicity continued calmly, managing to keep her anger under control as she turned to stare at Diggle, “Is that you know about Oliver’s PTSD. And you’re still treating him like a dog.”

Diggle looked suitably chastised, murmuring sheepishly, “Felicity…”

“He’s becoming ‘more trouble than he’s worth’?” Felicity repeated Diggle’s earlier words, swallowing back the sick feeling than erupted in her stomach.

“I didn’t mean that.”

“I know you didn’t, but you still said it. Oliver was scared and felt pressured and threatened by you looming over him and grabbing him. He bit you because instinct told him to defend himself.”

Diggle nodded solemnly in acceptance. “I know. And I know Oliver’s not just a random dog off the street that’s misbehaving. I know he’s just acting out because he’s frustrated and stressed. It was awful of me to say, I’m sorry.” His eyes moved from Felicity’s face to the husky as he added, “Both of you,” and Oliver’s ears perked.

“We’re sorry too,” Laurel offered quietly. She waved her hand to everybody else sitting at the table. “All of us. We’ll be more considerate.”

“Thank you,” Felicity exhaled. Taking in everybody’s tired faces, she smiled weakly. “All of you look exhausted, you should all get home, get some rest.”

The two Lances with their tag-along Queen departed, leaving Diggle and Felicity with the now-not-so-tiny husky. The blonde lifted Oliver down from the conference table, and immediately, the husky shook his fur out and trotted off. Ears flicking back and forth, he jumped up the computer platform effortlessly to grab Felicity’s coat and bag in his mouth and carry them back down to her, dropping them at her feet pointedly.

“I’m not sure I like you being bigger,” Felicity grumbled, crouching to scoop her jacket and bag up. “You’re going to be more troublesome now, I can sense it.” She nudged Oliver with her foot, heart squeezing when he growled lowly in response. She turned to Diggle, yawning. “We’re going to head home, you should too.”

“Nah, Lyla and Sara are probably asleep, I don’t want to disturb them. I’ll take one of the cots in the living quarters, have a nap.” Diggle gave a weird two finger salute as he began taking off his vigilante gear. “‘Night, Felicity. ‘Night, Oliver.”

It was beyond weird for Felicity to drive home with a puppy that was twice the size he had been an hour ago sitting in the passenger seat, no longer wanting to be picked up and carried places when he could walk everywhere he pleased. As Oliver trotted through the lobby to the elevator they usually took up to the Loft’s front door, she noticed that his stride was elegant and graceful, and his muscles rippled under his pelt, showing off his sheer strength. It reminded her of the intimidating approach of the Green Arrow, making Felicity swallow.

Oliver effortlessly leapt up onto the couch as she closed the door behind them after entering, barely sparing Felicity a second glance. He looked totally at ease in the familiar environment, relaxing as he settled on one of the larger cushions, blinking his blue eyes lazily.

“I’m going to bed,” Felicity told him awkwardly. She still didn’t know how to address him after she had essentially abused him by locking him in that bathroom. “If you, you know, want to come up with me...”

The husky fixed laser eyes on her, gazing at her for a moment with a stare that made her feel uncomfortable, before he hopped down and followed her up the stairs. Silently preparing for bed, Felicity slipped under her blankets with her heart in her throat, not knowing whether or not Oliver would forgive her enough to crawl up beside her. After a few moments, however, the husky scrambled up onto the bed, claws digging in to heave himself up, and with some hesitance, he nosed his way under the blankets and under one of her arms, so he was curled up on his side with his furry back pressing into her stomach.

Very slowly, Felicity turned so she wasn’t lying on her back and was instead curled around the puppy on her side, wrapping an arm around Oliver to draw him closer to her. When he didn’t flinch or react negatively to her touch, she whispered, “I’m sorry. There’s no excuse for what I did, shutting you in there like that, the only thing I was thinking was that you were distracting the team and I. I’m so, so sorry. I swear to you, I will never ever do something like that to you ever again. I love you, and I want you feel like you can trust me, and I don’t want you to be scared that I’m going to lock you away if you’re acting out.” She closed her eyes, tipping her head to her chest as she breathed into the fur on the top of his head. “It’s okay to be afraid and angry, Oliver. It’s always okay. I’m never going to leave you because your emotions get the better of you, because that’s what happens to every human being.”

He whined, as if protesting, _But I’m not a human being right now._

“You’re a husky puppy with a human mind and human emotions. You’re allowed to be overwhelmed, honey.” She exhaled heavily. “We should get some sleep. Big day tomorrow. Today. Man, being a night-time vigilante is messing up my sleeping schedule and my time perception.”

Oliver rumbled, as if chuckling, and in moments his breathing evened out as he fell asleep, radiating warmth that made Felicity curl around him tighter, refusing to let him go. Only a few minutes later, with Oliver’s reassuring weight and warmth resting on her stomach, Felicity slipped into restful sleep alongside him.

* * *

“Somebody needs to take Oliver for a walk,” Diggle announced, only an hour after the team had met up in the Lair for the Team Arrow weekly card game. Right now, they were playing Blackjack, or as Felicity knew it due to her Vegas upbringing, ‘21’, using candy and Big Belly Burger free food coupons as currency.

Felicity glanced over to where the husky puppy was restlessly chasing his squeaky pink ball around the medical area, growling and yapping at it furiously. “He seems fine.”

“You say that, but the next thing you know, he’ll be knocking over all the scalpels and syringes in an unexpected energy burst,” Laurel muttered, squinting down at her hand. “You’re the alpha, Felicity, you should take him. Diggle, hit.”

“You’re only saying that because I’ve won every single game we’ve played so far.”

Thea huffed, glaring at her. “You stole all my Twinkies. Stick.”

“Technically, I won them,” Felicity corrected. “Dig, hit me.” Diggle slid her card over to her and Felicity sighed. Her cards added up to twenty. Again. She was beginning to think that although this game was purely won by luck, the fates were working in her favour.

“Whatever. Take my brother for a walk. There’s a walking trail just to the north, through a park forest.” Thea stuck her tongue out in concentration. “Hey, can we please play rummy after this? This is killing my head.”

Felicity rolled her eyes. “Fine. I surrender.” She handed her cards back to Diggle, who was acting as the dealer. “I’m taking my winnings though.”

Thea looked horrified. “But I wanted to win my Twinkies back.”

“Sorry. Mine.” Felicity swiped her arm across the table, pushing all of her candy winnings into her bag and grabbing her jacket as she called out, “Oliver, we’re going out.”

The husky very quickly abandoned the ball and was at her side, on his hind paws with his forepaws batting at her hip. Oliver looked completely thrilled. He bounded around excitedly as Felicity grabbed the bag with the collar and leash inside, not wanting to reveal it to him yet that he was going to have to wear both of them, before they headed out to the car. Oliver jumped onto the passenger seat, tail wagging furiously and tongue lolling out of his mouth as he panted, vibrating with energy. It was adorable and alarming all at once. Felicity could see now what Laurel had been saying about energy burst.

Felicity sighed. She didn’t want to go alone though. What happened if Oliver ran off and she couldn’t find him? What happened if he got injured? She felt more at ease at the idea of having somebody accompanying her.

“We need to ask somebody to come with us,” she realised, turning to Oliver. “Who do you think? Dig, Thea and Laurel are out. So… Lance?” Oliver wrinkled his muzzle. “Curtis?” Oliver cocked his head to the side, chuffing. He didn’t seem to mind the idea of the bouncy engineer slash inventor tagging along with them.

She glanced down at the clothes she was wearing as well - this would be the perfect opportunity for her to take a run and get some proper exercise. She had used to take two mile runs with Oliver when they lived in Ivy Town, but since they had moved back to Star City, she hadn’t taken any runs at all.

“I need to pick up some running clothes from the Loft,” she told Oliver. “We might as well turn this walk into a run.” The husky perked up even more, if that was even possible.

Felicity texted Curtis, telling him that he was coming on a run with Oliver, the puppy, not her boyfriend, and he responded back with several happy emoticons, which made her smile. Oliver waited patiently as she returned to the Loft to change into thermal leggings and a vest, grabbing her running shoes. Oliver stood by the window, gazing out over the city as she pulled on her socks, giving Felicity time to actually look at him and admire his husky form for a few minutes.

Curtis was already in his workout clothes, waiting in front of the Palmer Tech building for her to pull the car up when she arrived to pick him up. Oliver refused to move from the passenger seat, however, growling when she asked, and since his teeth were twice as large and therefore twice as scary, Felicity couldn’t help but give in, leaving the husky licking his chest fur smugly.

“Is that Oliver?” Curtis questioned, looking shocked as he clambered into the back seat as the husky turned around to greet him happily. “But he’s twice the size he was yesterday!”

Felicity sighed. “Yeah, it’s kind of hard to explain, please don’t ask me to.” She pulled the car back out onto the street, following the GPS on her phone to navigate towards the walking trail they would be taking.

Curtis, to her surprise, didn’t ask any more questions, despite the fact that she could tell that he obviously wanted to. Throughout the twenty minute journey to the trail’s car park, she glanced in the rear view mirror to see her employee watching the husky with interested, running his eyes over the puppy curiously. When they arrived, Curtis hopped out with all the enthusiasm of an actual puppy.

“Right,” Felicity muttered, putting the hand brake on. “Here comes the hard part.” She turned to her boyfriend, who blinked back at her with big blue eyes, still panting with his tongue lolling out. He was, simply, adorable. “Sorry to be a buzz kill, Oliver, but you need to wear a collar and leash.”

Oliver froze.

Felicity grimaced. “I’m sorry.” Very slowly, Oliver’s ears went back against his skull. He began growling, baring his teeth. Remembering what Caitlin had said as establishing herself as the alpha, she scolded firmly, “Stop snarling, mister. You have to wear a collar and leash, it’s the law for this park. Just be glad I’m not making you wear a harness.” The husky still grumbled unhappily, but he seemed more accepting of the idea.

Oliver jumped out and sat on his haunches next to Curtis, who was standing and stretching out his calves and arms, psyching himself up for the run. Sometimes Curtis would lean down and give Oliver a pat on his back, making the husky wince and glare up at him, but at least the puppy was calm. Which he was certainly not going to be when she tried to get the collar on him, she knew. Felicity took the extra minutes Curtis gave her by distracting Oliver to lock the car, change her phone notifications onto Team Arrow emergencies only and survey their surroundings suspiciously.

Nothing seemed to be out of order. Since it was a weekday, the area was reasonably empty, with only a few runners accompanied by their dogs and some older couples following the trails. A short, pebbled path led away from the trail car park to the fringes of the forest, where it ended at a fork, splitting off into several worn down ring trails of varying length. They would be taking the hour loop trail that cut through the woods and ran along the edge of a small lake before swinging back around to the opposite end of the car park.

“I haven’t had time to go running in ages,” Curtis enthused, bouncing up and down on his feet as he stretched his arms out. Oliver was gazing up at him weirdly as her employee finished a series of strange contortions that Felicity reckoned the human body should not be capable off. “And this still counts as work? I’m still getting paid a salary for this? For going on a run with you and your dog? You’re awesome, Miss Smoak. You’re the best boss ever.”

“Yeah, okay, Curtis, the continuous comments and praise are getting a little weird now,” Felicity told him, her lips quirking up at his dropping shoulders due to her light scolding. Sighing, she picked up the green collar and leash, courtesy of Cisco, and knelt, motioning Oliver to come over to her. “C’mere, honey.”

The horrified look Oliver sent her made it obvious that he had thought maybe she had been joking, or playing a prank of some kind on him. She had taken the tiny arrow pendant off, because she knew Oliver would absolutely refuse flat out to wear the thing with that attached, but the small silver disk clipped on was necessary - if he got lost, it had her name and cell number on it. Narrowing her eyes, Felicity reached forwards with the collar undone; she could sense that this wasn’t going to be a simple task, and the spark in Oliver’s blue eyes just confirmed that for her.

Oliver leapt to his paws, crouching with his hind quarters poised in the air. His muzzle began to wrinkle up and a rumbling snarl erupted from his chest, making Curtis jump slightly in surprise. Pushing closer, Felicity fingered the buckle on the collar nervously, knowing that she would have to get it done up quickly.

“Has he never worn a collar before?” Curtis asked as Oliver’s growl deepened.

“Nope,” Felicity answered shortly.

“Oh,” Curtis bit his lip. “So he’s never been on a leash?”

“Curtis, you are not helping!” she hissed.

“Right, sorry.”

The husky’s growl upped in volume as her hands came within touching distance of his fur. When she reached closer, Oliver’s patience broke. She could see the faint anger, but mostly fear, shining in his eyes as he bared his teeth threateningly and snapped once at her hands furiously. Curtis winced, but Felicity, however, was not phased, and pushed onwards. She managed to get the collar wrapped around Oliver’s neck loosely, still undone, before a tremor ran through his entire form and he whined.

Felicity paused. “Oliver?” She whispered. “You okay?” She swallowed when he just eyed her warily. He looked like all his instincts were yelling at him to attack, defend himself, but he was fighting them because it was her. “Oliver.”

The puppy’s ears were flat back against his head showing his displeasure and he was shifting on his paws nervously. The anger and fear in his eyes had vanished, replaced with a blankness that Felicity knew only appeared when he was having flashbacks. Flashbacks triggered by the collar. Which meant that at some point in his five years away, Oliver, the human, had been subjected to having something placed around his neck to restrain him. Barely restraining her fury at the mere thought of somebody putting a collar around her boyfriend’s neck, she inhaled sharply and reached down to bury her free hand in the husky’s scruff, moving closer so she was practically embracing him.

“You are safe,” she whispered, chin resting between his ears. “And you are loved. This is a one time thing, and never again are you going to have to wear a collar. Ever. If this is too much, just indicate that to me, and we can leave. And you won’t ever have to see this collar ever again.”

Oliver twisted in her grip to nuzzle under her chin, licking her neck with a drawn out whine, obviously concerned. But after a moment or two in Felicity’s grasp, the husky seemed to calm down enough to sit without fussing, and although his ears were still flat against his skull and his lips were drawn in a silent snarl, Oliver did arch his head back to expose his neck to her. The significant of the gesture was not ignored by Felicity; the neck was one of the most vulnerable spots on the body, and for Oliver to freely expose his own neck to her was a massive show of trust, and submission. He was accepting her as his alpha, as well as trusting her to keep him safe.

Felicity carefully put the collar on the puppy, making sure that it wasn’t too tight or too loose by running three fingers inside of it, before clipping on the leash and standing. Biting her lip, she watched the husky cautiously for any sign of a bad or panicked reaction. Oliver pulled back onto the leash as if to test its strength, staring down at it for a few seconds in disdain, growling quietly, before he snapped his jaw around it, mouthing it before releasing it unhappily. 

Curtis wandered over, looking down at Oliver curiously. “So you got it on him. Is he okay with it?”

“I think so,” Felicity answered, calling, “Oliver?” The husky froze, having been mouthing the leash once again, blinking up at her. “Ready to get going?”

The puppy huffed, standing and leaning so that the weight of his entire body was against the leash. Felicity quickly made sure she was anchored to the other end so that Oliver didn’t go flying. After a minute, the puppy seemed resigned to his fate of being on the leash, shaking himself furiously and bounding to Curtis’ side, tail wagging half-heartedly.

The three of them set off at an easy jogging pace to start with, Felicity holding the leash as Oliver trotted at her side, but after five minutes or so, Curtis suggested they speed up, so they began properly running at a faster pace. The husky was forced to actually jump into a galloping sort of canter as well, tongue lolling out his mouth and panting, every so often running ahead on the leash and having to slow slightly to fall back to Felicity’s side. What was really funny was that the trails themselves were named after colours, and they were taking the Green Trail, that was marked out by green arrows. Every time Oliver saw one of the green arrows pointing the way, he got really excited and bounced around, which brought a smile to her face.

Around half way on the trail, just as they were reaching the small lake, Curtis called out that he had a cramp and needed to stretch it off, so they took a quiet break.

Felicity grinned when she saw that Oliver looked elated, puffing out fast, little breaths and mouth open as he gazed up at her happily, panting to cool himself down. H was certainly enjoying himself, which was a plus. He seemed to have completely forgotten about the fact that he was wearing a collar and leash. She led Oliver over to the edge of the lake to allow him to snuffle around the ferns at the water’s edge there, confident he’d be able to swim if he decided to take a dip, as Curtis sat on the ground stretching out his calf which had cramp in it.

“Well what do we have here?”

“Oh shit,” Felicity murmured, turning around to find three rough looking guys approaching them, leering at her.

She immediately inched back towards Curtis. She was pretty confident in her self-defence moves; Laurel had been giving her weekly sessions, so she knew that she could throw a good punch and put a guy bigger than her down if she had to, but against three grown men? And they weren’t alone. They had a massive German Shepherd dog with them - it was currently quite docile, not looking aggressive, but Felicity knew that if it came to a fight, that dog would have a mean bite. She needed back up. Oliver started growling lowly, tensing with his fur on end as the men approached.

“Why don’t you join us for a run, darling?” One of the men, the biggest of the three and obviously the leader, looked her up and down in a lascivious and dirty manner that made Felicity feel a little violated. He leered at her unpleasantly, drawing closer, his two cronies just behind him.

“I’m fine, thanks,” Felicity replied coldly, pulling Oliver on the leash towards her, ever aware that he was snarling full out now, standing in front of her protectively.

“This your boyfriend?” another one of the men sneered at Curtis. “Can’t even run without getting a cramp?” He stepped closer to the blonde, making Felicity’s heart jolt as he smiled in such a way at her that she realised that she was in trouble. And there was nobody else in sight on the trail. “Why don’t we show you what real men with proper stamina can do, sweetheart? What do you say? You wanna have a good time?”

Curtis leapt to his feet in front of her, saying loudly, “Hey, back off -”

Before he could even finish, the leader punched him in the face. In response, Oliver snarled loudly, yanked the leash out of Felicity’s hand, lunged forwards and snapped his jaws around the guy’s leg. Stunned, Felicity’s jaw dropped, but she didn’t know why she was surprised; Oliver was protective, and she knew that he would defend her and their friends even if it killed him. The puppy had obviously reacted instinctively, seeing the three men as threats.

The man howled in pain and tried to shake the husky puppy off, but Oliver had a firm grasp on his leg, and refused to let go. The other two guys didn’t seem to know what to do, flailing and watching in shock. When one of them went to hit Oliver to get him off the leader’s leg, Felicity viciously kicked out, and her foot connected with the guy’s shoulder, which sent him sprawling to the ground. Nobody touched or tried to hurt her boyfriend, especially in puppy form.

When Oliver finally released the guy’s leg, the man hopped backwards into the arms of the other two, blood dripping from the wound as he shouted angrily. Fear struck through Felicity’s heart like a bolt of lightning as the man holding the Alsatian clipped the monstrous dog from its leash and yelled at it to attack. She tried to run forwards to scoop the husky up, preparing herself to leg it, but Curtis held her back, arms around her waist and angling her behind him, shielding her.

“OLIVER!” she shrieked, watching helplessly as the Alsatian sprinted up to the puppy, barking and snarling ferociously.

The husky was only half of the other dog’s size, but he was just as fierce. And, of course, Oliver was a strategic genius and amazing fighter. With an enraged growl, Oliver pounced forward, twisted in mid air and rammed his hind paws into the German Shepherd dog’s chest and face. The dog went flying, landing with a crunch and a yowl of pain, before scampering off.

“Let’s get outta here!” one of the guys bellowed. “That girl’s a psycho! I ain’t fighting that demonic dog!”

The three men scarpered. Oliver ran after them for a few metres, barking ferociously and chasing them off. As soon as the three of them were alone on the trail again, Curtis let go of Felicity, and the blonde ran towards the puppy, arms out. Turning back towards her, Oliver ran straight into her arms as she knelt down.

Hugging him tightly to her chest to try and calm herself down, Felicity swiftly checked the husky over for injuries. “Are you okay?” she sniffed, unable to stop the tears coming now that she knew that they were safe, and that the guys were gone. “God, Oliver, that was so stupid of you to bite that guy, but thank you so much, that was so brave.”

He huffed happily, nipping at her ear and rubbing his own cheek against hers, rumbling as if to try and comfort her. Felicity put the husky back down, letting Oliver shake himself again, before heading back towards Curtis, who was standing a metre away, watching them fondly. The tech expert had his hand held to his nose, which was bleeding, but he had a smile on his face.

“Oh my god, Curtis, are you okay?” Felicity asked concernedly.

“S’fine,” he mumbled, waving a hand dismissively. “Jus’ broken, I t’ink.”

“We should get you to hospital,” Felicity fussed, pulling out her cell phone and flicking down to Lance’s number.

“Nah, s’fine,” Curtis shook his head. “Stopped bleedin’ now, I t’hink. Jus’ need some ice.”

Felicity swallowed, but nodded. She couldn’t force Curtis to go to the hopsital. “We should probably report this to the police. Think you could help me give descriptions of those guys?”

“Sure,” Curtis nodded.

The three of them hurried back along the trail to the car park, piling into the car and heading back to the Loft. Oliver, to her surprise, crawled onto Curtis’ lap in the backseat to keep him company, nosing his side as if examining him for other wounds. The engineer thought it was adorable, letting the husky do as he wanted, holding a towel from the trunk of the car to his nose. He was right, it had stopped bleeding, but it was swelling up a bit. Felicity called Lance to tell her what had happened, and the captain met them there at the Loft, taking their statements quickly and also checking if they were alright. When Felicity and Curtis told him about Oliver biting one of the guys, Lance smiled proudly and fussed over Oliver a little, and the puppy responded happily in turn, snuffling the captain’s hand. It was only once Lance left that Felicity placed Oliver on the couch and guided Curtis down so he could sit whilst holding the ice pack to his face.

“I’m so sorry, Curtis,” she apologised.

“Nah, it’s not your fault,” he shook his head. “It’s not like you knew something like that would happen. Kinda my fault, really, I tried to stand up to that guy, and look how that ended - I got a broken nose. Coulda been worse, I suppose.”

“I appreciate you defending my honour though,” she teased.

“Didn’t need me to do that,” Curtis chuckled, motioning to the husky. “He managed that just fine. Is he a ninja puppy or something?”

Felicity laughed softly. “Yeah, I guess so.” Realising that they were talking about him, Oliver clambered over the cushions and onto the blonde’s lap, lying down with his body on her whilst his head rested on Curtis’ knee. The husky blinked huge blue eyes up at the engineer, mewing quietly. “Do you want me to drive you home? I’ll explain what happened to Paul, if you want.”

“Nah, I texted him earlier, he’s coming to pick me up.” Curtis waved her off, standing and stretching out, putting the ice pack down. Felicity winced. His nose looked really sore. “Thanks, Ms Smoak. It was… certainly an interesting work day,” he smirked.

Felicity rolled her eyes. “It really should be me thanking you, but I’m glad you had a nice time, up until the point you got punched by a douchebag. Take tomorrow off, Curtis, heal up and get some rest. Thank you for everything.”

She escorted Curtis downstairs and waved him off as Paul came to pick him up. By the time Felicity got back upstairs to the Loft, Oliver was standing on the arm rest of the couch, tail wagging and ears pricked up as he waited for her. As soon as she appeared in the doorway, the husky started wiggling excitedly and a small howl erupted from his throat. Laughing, Felicity scooped him up onto her lap as she settled down into the cushions. Oliver quickly turned around, tail thumping powerfully against her leg as he licked her chin and cheeks, whiskers tickling her.

“Well,” she sighed. “Today was certainly eventful.” Oliver huffed a laugh, brushing his muzzle over her shoulder before curling up so he could gaze up at her tiredly. “Thank you for defending me back there.”

He shot her a look, as if to say, _Defending you is my job._

“I know, but you could easily have been hurt by those men or by that dog. Awesome ninja move by the way, that’s the sort of kick that Nyssa would be proud of.” Beginning to thread her hands through his fur again, Felicity leant back and snuggled the husky against her stomach. “I guess even in puppy form, whatever form you’re in, you’re still a hero.

“You’re always going to be a hero.”

* * *


	5. ~ Part 5 ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the long wait guys. I guess now is better than never though, right? *nervous laughter*
> 
> Thanks for all your support, I really do appreciate it!
> 
> Awesome note: Check out the amazing graphic that @pleasantfanandstudent on Tumblr made for the fic. Isn't it incredible?! I'll pass along any comments you may or may not have to them. (I'm still in awe it's SO PRETTY)

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* * *

“Okay, okay… mix the dry ingredients together, until evenly distributed…”

It was late afternoon, only a few hours after Oliver and Felicity had arrived from getting attacked at the park with Curtis by those seedy guys, and Felicity Smoak was baking. Why was she baking? Because when Oliver was in human form, he wouldn’t let her within five feet of his oven, but now because he was in puppy form, he couldn’t exactly stop her. And Felicity was craving chocolate muffins. Back when they owned a double oven at their house in Ivy Town, whenever Felicity had a particularly stressful day dealing with the Palmer Tech board over Skype, Oliver would bake her triple chocolate chip muffins. It had been a bad day for Curtis, going home with a broken nose, so she had decided to try and bake some ‘I’m sorry for getting you beaten up by some awful dudes’ muffins.

Currently, it was going well. She’d managed to cream the butter and sugar together, and since she had meticulously weighed every ingredient, and was following Oliver’s recipe to the letter, Felicity hadn’t messed up. Yet.

Sneaking a glance down to Oliver, she bit her lip to hold in her laugh. The husky was sitting on his haunches at the edge of the kitchen, fixing a look of utter disgust and horror on her. His blue eyes held such betrayal in them, at her breaking his rule of her not being allowed to cook. His ears were flat back against his skull and every so often, his lips would curl up and he would give a small puppy snarl.

“See, Oliver?” she said triumphantly, whipping her wooden spoon through the dry cake ingredients to mix them in a separate bowl. “I am a competent chef.” Oliver raised his head and howled, but it was more of a growling yowl than what a howl was supposed to sound like. “Keep it down, mister. The neighbours will complain otherwise.” She checked the recipe again, putting the spoon down. “Melt the chocolate…”

She shrugged. Grabbing a pan, she put it on heat and broke the chocolate into pieces before shoving it all in, putting the lid on top. A loud thumping noise startled her out of her musings as she adjusted the gas knobs. Oliver was sitting next to the wall, repeatedly banging his puppy head against it, making small groaning sounds. Rolling her eyes, Felicity walked over and scooped him up, checking that he was okay with it before carrying him over to the kitchen counter. Scrambling out of her arms, he started batting at her arm and motioning with his other paw to the cooker, whining.

“I did it wrong?” Felicity asked slowly, a little confused. The puppy nodded urgently. Taking the pan off the heat, she questioned, “So how do I melt chocolate? In the microwave?” Oliver cringed, growling. “Okay, mister, no need to get snappy. You want to show me?”

When he nodded again, she searched through the cupboards to pick out various instruments, bowls and pans, setting them on the floor. Hopefully, Oliver would be able to show her what to do. Placing the husky down on the floor again, Felicity watched closely as Oliver rushed over to one of the bowls, struggling to pick it up in his mouth. Realising it was too heavy for the puppy to carry as his teeth just gnawed on it, the blonde knelt and picked it up for him. He batted her foot with his paw again before sprinting over to the pan on the floor, whining, batting that as well.

“Put it… on top?” Felicity translated. Oliver nodded hurriedly. “Put the bowl on top of the pan. And put the chocolate in the bowl.” The husky smashed his face against her knee, nodding in approval as he rumbled happily. “Thanks, Oliver. Why don’t you -” she lifted him again, wincing at his unhappy expression as she plonked him on one of the counters. “- sit there and tell me when I’m going wrong.”

The next hour went past quickly, with Felicity successfully managing to actually do a good job at baking for once, with the husky guiding her. The two of them developed a system where if Felicity started doing something wrong, Oliver would growl, and he would use his paws to tap on the countertop to try and communicate timings and what she should add next. The result was two trays worth of well-baked, beautiful triple chocolate chip muffins. A triumphant expression on her face, Felicity tipped the muffins out of the trays and onto a wire rack to cool, putting all the dirty equipment and crockery into the dishwasher before she swept Oliver up into her arms again and buried her face into his furry neck.

“Did I do good?” she questioned. “Could this be considered a successful baking attempt?”

Rolling his eyes, the puppy gently licked her cheek with a reluctant nod. Felicity beamed in response.

“High five,” she ordered, lifting her hand up, grinning when Oliver huffed and smacked it back down with his paw. “We’re the best team ever.”

A knock on the door interrupted Felicity trying to get Oliver to high five her again to no avail. Squirming out of her arms, the husky shook himself and stretched before settling on his haunches at the edge of the kitchen whilst Felicity went to answer the door. Opening it, a wide smile appeared on her face when she was met with Thea’s own grin and her raised eyebrow.

Thea glanced behind Felicity, not so subtly going up on her tiptoes in order to catch a glimpse of her older brother. “Am I interrupting, or…?”

“No, no, come in,” Felicity grinned, stepping aside to let her pass. “Oliver and I were just doing some baking.”

Thea looked disbelieving. “And you didn’t burn the Loft down?”

“That only happened once, Thea!” she whined. When her future sister-in-law crossed her arms, unimpressed, Felicity gritted out, “Okay, fine, maybe twice. But there was no permanent damage.” Leading the way towards the kitchen, as Felicity caught sight of what her boyfriend-in-puppy-form was up to, she barked sternly, “Oliver!”

The puppy had been on his hind legs, forepaws hanging onto the edge of the kitchen counter as he sniffed at the muffins cautiously. As soon as Felicity exclaimed his name, he jumped down and curled his tail under his legs, plastering an innocent look on his face as he cocked his ears. Taking one look at Oliver’s adorable blinking blue eyes and Felicity standing over him, looking down at him crossly, Thea burst out giggling. The blonde wasn’t irritated much, but she was still annoyed.

“We had a discussion about this,” Felicity tapped her foot on the floor. “You can’t eat chocolate when you’re in this form, it’s poisonous to dogs.”

He grumbled under his breath, plonking down on his behind sulkily.

“Don’t get pouty, Oliver,” Felicity said warningly. “We agreed you were going to stay away from chocolate, grapes, avocados and caffeinated foods.”

“I didn’t think Ollie would want to eat chocolate muffins anyway,” Thea mused, kneeling down and patting her knee to encourage him over. Taking the chance of escaping Felicity’s wrath, the husky slipped through Felicity’s legs, fast as a bullet and slammed into Thea’s arms, licking her face desperately to say hello. Flicking Oliver’s nose, smirking when his muzzle wrinkled, she added, “You’re too much of a health nut, aren’t you?

“That’s what he wants everybody to think,” Felicity grumbled, testing the temperature of the muffins before transferring them over to a plate, placing said plate at the very back of the counter so Oliver couldn’t jump up and snatch one. “He drinks all these kale smoothies and protein bars whenever you guys are around. He forces his lettuce wraps and granola flapjacks on me. But secretly he’s a cocoa addict.”

Thea slipped into a seat at their dining table, and Oliver scrambled up onto the chair beside her. Felicity had to smile as she watched Oliver’s head rear backwards in happiness when Thea began scratching under his chin. “Weird,” the younger Queen sibling mused. “Ollie didn’t really eat or drink anything sugary after he came back from Lian Yu that first time in 2012.”

“His stomach wasn’t used to the excessive amounts of sugar,” Felicity explained, snagging two muffins and handing one of them over to Thea, chuckling when Oliver started snuffling her, half crawling onto her lap. “He had to stick to a BRAT diet.”

“A what?”

“A BRAT diet. Usually it’s reserved for people who have gone through surgery involving their stomach or intestines, or for really ill people. It’s basically bananas, rice, applesauce and toast.” Smiling when the husky puppy licked her cheek and rubbed his face up against hers with a soft whine, she explained, “It was hard for him the first few months back, but he weaned himself back onto a normal diet, so he's better now. Oliver and I ate a lot more exotic, richer foods when we were away, which resulted in him starting cooking. Don’t let him fool you, Thea - your brother is a sucker for a chocolate soufflé.”

Thea paused, her hand stilling in Oliver’s fur. She swallowed visibly, and when she looked up at Felicity again, the blonde became confused. There was a guilty look in her eyes. “They’re his favourite?” she asked sadly. “Chocolate soufflés?”

“Yes?”

“Would he only make them for - for special occasions?”

“How did you -” _know that?_ Felicity was about to finish, but then realisation struck her and her eyes narrowed. “You’re referring to the night you and Laurel came to collect us from Ivy Town.”

“And if I am?”

“Why was that a special occasion? Is it because it was the five month anniversary of when we got together?”

“No…” Thea wouldn’t meet her eyes. “It was much more special than that.”

Felicity crossed her arms and said warningly, “Thea. Tell me.”

Hesitance lining her expression, Thea opened her mouth to begin awkwardly when Oliver unleashed a full blown snarl at her, jumping up onto her so his paws were on his chest and his bared teeth were inches from her face. Probably due to some freaky reflexes, Thea managed not to flinch, although she did wrap her hands around the husky’s middle and force him back down onto her lap. Felicity had been about to lunge forwards and rip the puppy away from Thea, alarmed by his aggressive reaction, but then the younger Queen sibling whispered something into Oliver’s ear and he magically calmed down, licking her fingers apologetically.

“What was that?” Felicity questioned, her eyes flickering from Thea to her boyfriend in puppy form.

“Don’t worry about it,” Thea muttered.

Still suspicious of why Thea had randomly brought that up, Felicity moved into her own seat opposite the two Queen siblings, tearing into her own chocolate muffin lightly. “So what brings you to the Loft?” she asked casually. “Not that - not that we don’t want you here, or that you coming is unusual or anything, since you used to live here and everything, and your brother lives here now… with me. What date is it? Is it the twelfth? Is that why you’re here?”

“Why would I be here if it was the twelfth?” Thea questioned, eyes wide and confused.

“Because you and Oliver have a standing dinner at Table Salt on the twelfth of every month?”

“How’d you know about that?”

Felicity scoffed. “Thea, your brother first of all remembers it, and secondly he turns up on time. Do you really think it would be a standing date if I _wasn’t_ involved?”

The younger Queen laughed softly, obviously amused, before she sobered, lacing her hands together. “Actually, I was sent by Dig to pick you both up and take you to the bunker. Lance came earlier with some new information and we’re having a team meeting.”

“Sure,” Felicity replied with a smile. Internally, however, she knew that something bad must have happened. The fact that Diggle was calling a meeting and sending Thea to pick her and Oliver up, instead of texting her, told the blonde how serious he was about gathering the team to discuss the situation. Standing and walking over to grab her bag and coat, she suddenly remembered how Thea liked to travel. “Please don’t tell me you came on the bike.”

“No, I came in the BMW,” she reassured. “I know you can’t ride a bike to save your life. Ollie told me about the first time you rode with him.”

Yes, Felicity remembered that well. Clinging onto Oliver’s waist whilst going over sixty miles an hour had been exhilarating, but she had been more terrified than anything else. “Well, that’s embarrassing.” Shrugging her jacket on, she called, “Oliver.”

The husky puppy had been watching Felicity and Thea get ready to depart together in silence, his head tilted sideways and tail thumping the back of the chair he was sitting on. When Felicity patted her thigh, motioning for him to come to them, he leapt down and trotted up to them, waiting by the door. Deciding it would be a good idea to drop the chocolate muffins off at Curtis and Pauls’ place on the way to the lair, the blonde packed them up in a plastic container, writing a quick note which she dropped inside. The husky puppy walked by Felicity’s side as the two women headed down to Thea’s red BMW, obediently remaining at her heel, although as they headed outside he seemed to begin casing the area carefully.

They spent the drive with the radio on low volume and discussing some plans for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Thea’s birthday. Thanksgiving was going to be spent with the team down in the lair, with Oliver cooking, whilst at Christmas they were planning on having a massive holiday party at the campaign office. They quickly discussed Thea’s birthday party being a girls only shopping trip, despite the fact that the younger Queen’s birthday was in several months time, in January. Dropping off the muffins with Curtis and Paul, who were at first very wary of them, but then thanked Felicity graciously once Thea lied and said she’d supervised, they then headed to the lair.

Diggle, Laurel and Lance were already settled down at the conference table when they arrived, papers scattered over the glass top. The sombre and particularly cold atmosphere, in which Felicity could literally sense their worry, was slightly disturbing, and Oliver slowed down at her side, his trot dying to a cautious walk as he whined softly, concerned.

“Hey, glad you came,” Diggle greeted her. “We’ve got a bit of a situation.”

“What’s going on?” she asked, helping Oliver jump up onto a chair before taking her own, next to him. Thea slid into a chair on the other side of the puppy, absentmindedly scratching behind her brother’s twitching ears. “Captain, you have some information for us?”

“Yeah, and it isn’t good,” Lance told her, shaking his head. The slightly pained expression on his face informed Felicity that this was serious, and made her heartbeat increase slightly in anxiety. “Turns out that the hospital wasn’t the only place hit by the Ghosts last night. An ARGUS weapons cache was also attacked.”

And that wasn’t alarming at all. Her eyes wide, Felicity looked between Diggle, who was sitting back with his arms crossed tightly and the police captain. “Was the hospital a diversion?”

“No, because they were obviously there to steal that radioactive material, and they succeeded,” Diggle said, tipping his head. “I called Lyla - apparently they managed to get their hands on a pretty large amount of nitroglycerin.”

“Which is the main component for dynamite,” Laurel finished tightly.

If the Ghosts were stealing materials for making bombs, but also stealing radioactive material… then the logical explanation was that they were going to use both together, which meant that - “They’re building a dirty bomb,” Felicity whispered in horror. Oliver jumped up in his chair, giving a short growl with his paws on the glass countertop, but he didn’t do much more than snarl. “Darhk is going to release a dirty bomb in Star City.”

“Apparently so,” Lance nodded solemnly.

“I don’t understand,” Thea said. “Why? Sure, Darhk’s had the Ghosts destroying the city, but it’s never been anything too menacing. He’s always just wanted to gain power. Why does he now want to turn Star City into a nuclear disaster zone?”

“We have no idea,” Laurel shook her head. “I think that’s what makes it so scary. There’s no explanation for it.”

Felicity looked between them all, suggesting, “Maybe he’s not planning on actually using the bomb? Maybe he’s trying to draw Team Arrow out. He does hate us an awful lot.”

“But would he go to all the trouble to steal components for a dirty bomb?” Diggle crossed his arms. “No. He’s planning on using it somehow. Stealing a truck load of radioactive material and nitroglycerin from ARGUS was not easy for them, they wouldn’t have done it just to try and get attention from us.”

“It could be a trap,” Thea said.

Lance cut in, “Look, whatever Darhk’s getting his Ghosts to do this shit for, it isn’t good. Thank god, the Ghosts don’t have everything they need yet - they need absorbents and stabilisers before the bomb can be used, and SCPD are putting all the businesses, shops and labs with those materials into lockdown.”

Thea narrowed her eyes. “But you don’t think it’s going to be enough.”

Lance sighed heavily, his eyes falling onto the husky puppy. Oliver barely blinked at him, his blue eyes practically glowing as he met the captain’s gaze, squirming on his forepaws. “Last night at the hospital, people noticed that the Green Arrow wasn’t there,” he said. “As in, there was a very noticeable absence. People actually came up and mentioned it to us. If civilians noticed then - the Ghosts would have noticed too. They’re gonna start becoming more violent and reckless, and become more active if they think the Green Arrow’s out of the game.” He grimaced, and then finished in a serious, low voice, “We need the Green Arrow out in the field. Innocent people are gonna end up getting hurt or dying otherwise.”

Felicity quickly turned to glance down at Oliver. The puppy had collapsed back onto his butt at Lance’s last few sentences, his ears going flat against his skull and head lowering, but not in an angry way. He looked… submissive. Upset. Whether Oliver knew it or not, he was retreating into himself, ever so slightly flinching at Thea’s gentle touches as his sister stroked down his scruff and back. A little concerned at where her boyfriend’s mental state was going to go if they continued on this path, Felicity quickly turned back to Lance.

“Okay, so what are you suggesting we do?” she questioned. “Obviously the Green Arrow is unavailable to go out into the field right now.”

“Is there no way you can turn him back?” Lance asked, his tone slightly irritated but also desperate as he waved his hand towards the husky.

“You really think he’d still be in puppy form if we could?” Felicity snapped.

“I don’t know,” Lance threw his hands in the air, frustrated. “There’s absolutely nothing you can do?”

Rage bubbled beneath the surface of Felicity’s skin, and she was about to open her mouth to seethe back at the captain, annoyed that he thought that Oliver would choose to remain in a form of a vulnerable husky puppy if given the choice to change back, but Laurel swiftly cut in, “There is no point getting angry with each other. Dad, there is no way we can turn Oliver back into a human, he is stuck like this, and we’re going to have to be able to operate without the Green Arrow. We’ve done it before, we can do it again.”

“Look, you guys have to understand,” Lance said exasperatedly, “The public face of Team Arrow _is_ the Green Arrow. He’s seen to be leading the Black Canary, Spartan, Speedy. People get antsy if the big guy in green doesn’t seem to be around. I mean… last year the Arrow disappeared during the Glades Siege and everything pretty much went to hell.”

“Captain Lance, if it makes you feel better, Thea, Laurel and I will take turns wearing the Green Arrow suit out on patrol over the next few days to dismiss any rumours,” Diggle raised his voice, lifting his head and almost announcing his leadership over the group. “But there’s nothing else really we can do. We’ll need to you stay behind in the lair and monitor the potential targets of the Ghosts whilst we’re out, though.”

“Fine, I can do that.”

Diggle glanced over at Oliver and his gaze seemed to soften. Felicity swallowed when she realised that the puppy had curled up on the chair and tucked his head underneath his tail, looking absolutely miserable. The worst part of it was that Felicity knew possibly that touching Oliver to try and comfort him could instantly trigger an anxiety attack - although at this point, she kind of suspected that today was not going to pass without one occurring.

“Do you want to take him home?” Diggle asked her quietly. “There’s not much we can really do until later this evening, and we’ll call you in if we need you.”

Felicity shifted her chair over to Oliver’s and very carefully rested her fingers on the puppy’s flank. He didn’t react beyond his right ear and whiskers twitching. Making her voice very soft and kind, and lowering it to just above a whisper to ensure she didn’t startle him, Felicity stroked along his spine, questioning, “Honey? Do you want to stay here?”

Oliver shook his head underneath his tail.

“Do you want to go home?” she asked sadly.

He nodded, finally uncurling from his tight ball position but his tail tucked beneath his legs and ears lowered as Oliver stumbled onto her lap, burying his furry head into her stomach with a purr-like tired whine. Thea and Laurel both shot the puppy sympathetic looks, whilst Lance looked a little guilty over being angry and getting frustrated with the archer.

“Alright,” she murmured, addressing Diggle, who also appeared quite worried about Oliver’s behaviour. “I’ll just write an algorithm quickly to keep track of all of places in Star City that supply stabilisers and absorbers, and then we’ll head home.”

“Sure,” her best friend replied with a small smile. “You need anything, don’t hesitate to call, okay?”

Oliver sat on Felicity’s lap as she constructed the code at her computer set up, big enough now to be able to rest his head on her shoulder. Absentmindedly, the blonde ran one hand through his soft fur down his back whilst working with her other hand, humming soothingly to him as the puppy watched the other members of the team move around the lair, every so often licking at Felicity’s neck and whimpering. He was getting quiet anxious within her arms, wriggling and obviously starting to become restless, which was typical behaviour of him just before he had a panic attack. This only made the blonde even more desperate to get finished.

Thea drove them home in the BMW, but the journey this time was spent mostly in silence, Felicity focusing on keeping Oliver close to her chest so that he could feel her heartbeat through her shirt, as that sometimes helped calm him down. Of course, this also allowed Felicity to feel his heartbeat, which was rapid, telling her that the puppy was in fact starting to become quite anxious. Oliver’s sister gave them a soft farewell, asking the CEO to text her later, before driving off.

They managed to get inside the Loft before the anxiety attack began, thank god.

Felicity knew how to calm Oliver down from them relatively quickly at this point, but this anxiety attack seemed particularly brutal - the archer’s touch sensitivity was massively playing up, meaning that his shivering, shaking form flinched and shied away from her every touch. He just lay curled up on the couch, trembling with his head tucked under his tail and his eyes flat on his head. He gave little whimpering snarls whenever Felicity tried to touch him, but he also yowled and howled whenever she wasn’t close enough. It was heart breaking for the blonde to have to deal with. She could do nothing but sit there on the other end of the couch, completely still and talking to him in a quiet, comforting voice to calm him.

After around an hour, the husky puppy crawled over on his belly to her lap, cautiously resting his head on her thigh. Sighing in relief that this attack had been reasonably short considering the length of the usual panic attacks Oliver suffered, which could go on for hours and all night if he was triggered, Felicity placed a supportive hand on his flask and urged him to wiggle further up onto her lap.

“You feel better now, my love?” Oliver nodded, burying his head into her neck with another low whimper. Exhaling slowly, Felicity raised both her hands to scratch at his scruff, smiling when the puppy rumbled happily. “Okay, good. I was thinking we could watch a movie together or something, have a quiet evening in. I know I’m on call for the team, but if they do need me for a mission it’ll only be for an hour or so.” Licking her cheek, Oliver rumbled his approval. “Great, I’ll just order some pizza and then I’ll put a movie on.”

Ordering her pizza, Felicity kept an eye on Oliver carefully. He simply rested on the couch cushions for a few minutes before growing restless and beginning to pad around the Loft curiously, sniffing at everything as if it was all completely new to him, even though they’d been living there for months. She quickly dashed upstairs to pull on a white woolly sweater that would keep her warm and grab a few blankets. A laugh burst from her chest when she descended the stairs to find the husky puppy crouched in front of his favourite pink squeaky ball, eyeing it suspiciously but every so often batting his paw out at it to make it squeal, and leaping back whenever it made the shrill noise.

“Having fun?” she questioned teasingly. He jumped in surprise at her voice and tried to hide the ball by lying on top of it - but of course, it made a continuous squeaking sound as he did so, which only made Felicity laugh harder. Oliver had an indignant and annoyed look on his face when he rose to his paws to kick the ball as if irritated with it betraying him. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re allowed to have fun. Do you wanna pick the movie?”

They settled on watching a horror movie that had a lot of action in it, one of Oliver’s favourites, although Felicity couldn’t fathom why. Despite the fact that the husky puppy was heavy enough now that his weight on top of her could cause a little discomfort, Felicity settled down onto the couch on her back with her ankles crossed and Oliver splayed across her stomach, nuzzling into her woolly sweater. Wrapping a blanket around them both, Felicity set her eyes on the screen, but concentrated on mapping out the puppy’s fur with her fingers. Oliver didn’t seem to mind, actually watching the movie, reacting to every jump scare and making little sounds occasionally to show his emotions, although the way his ears swivelled, went back or perked informed the blonde every time his mood changed.

At some point, Felicity must have drifted off, the soothing weight of Oliver on top of her and the warmth of the blanket coaxing her to sleep. She only knew this because a massive noise from the movie, a terrifying jump scare jolted her awake with a terrified yelp. Oliver immediately reacted to her fear and shock by scrambling off her chest onto the floor, where he growled at the screen. The monster in the jump scare vanished. Still, the archer’s fur bristled angrily, and he remained poised, ready to snarl again if the monster reappeared.

“Oliver,” she called. He didn’t move. Felicity chuckled. “Oliver, look at me.” Very slowly, he dragged his eyes away from the screen and to her face, licking his bared canines. “It’s fine. The loud noise just surprised me. Nothing is attacking us.”

He seemed unsure, turning back to the screen and growling.

She rolled her eyes. “Oliver, it’s the TV. It’s not gonna hurt me.”

He grumbled, as if saying, _Well, you never know, it might._

“Come back here, you big grump,” Felicity grinned. “Let’s cuddle a little more before the pizza arrives.”

Oliver just managed to hop back up onto the couch before the doorbell rang. As soon as the bell chimed, he dashed off again, howling furiously, his paws kicking Felicity and winding her as he squirmed away. He jumped at the door, the sound of his claws scratching the glass horrific. Felicity had to hold him back with one arm anchored around his neck and the other forcing his butt to the ground so that the husky puppy didn’t instantly attack the delivery guy. Luckily, the pizza man seemed to think that Oliver was sweet, and was just being overenthusiastic about meeting new people, not suspecting that the husky might want to rip his face off. It seemed as if Oliver was just determined to be super annoying that evening, because as soon as Felicity set the pizza box down on the coffee table and opened it up, he snatched a slice and fled to the other side of the room to gulp it down before the blonde could catch him and take it away.

“Oh, you will pay for that, mister,” she warned, approaching Oliver from the side as he sat there, licking his lips without a care in the world.

As soon as she got within a few feet of him, the puppy tensed, lying on his forepaws with his hindquarters in the air, his tail beating back and forth so quickly that his entire behind wiggled. There was a manic gleam in his blue eyes as he panted, excited by the prospect of a game of chase. Felicity lunged out to grab him, and he just managed to dash out of the way in time, going utterly insane as he bounced around the room like a hyper cheetah. It was almost impossible to catch him. As soon as Felicity thought that his hyperactive puppy episode might be over, and he might calm down and let her pick her up again, he sprinted away from her when her hands brushed across his fur. The result of this burst of energy, however, resulted in Oliver slamming into the glass door that led to the balcony.

“Oh frack, are you okay?” Felicity asked concernedly, as the puppy shook himself, whining quietly as he rubbed his head against his paws due to the pain. Within seconds, however, he was stretching out and yawning, before re-commencing the chase, obviously unnerved by colliding with the door. “And just when I think you might calm down,” she muttered. “God, are puppies always like this? I think I prefer broody, Mr-Manpain, don’t-talk-to-me Oliver to puppy Oliver.”

At that, he skidded to a halt and levelled her with a glare that could have curdled milk.

“Don’t glower at me like that,” the blonde warned. “You started it by stealing my pizza.”

Huffing, Oliver finally plonked down on his behind, still glaring as he sniffed and looked away. Felicity could just tell he was saying, _Yeah, I’m not apologising for that._ He’d just allowed her to scoop him up in her arms and drop him back down onto the couch again when Felicity’s cell phone rang.

“This was meant to be a quiet night in,” she rolled her eyes. “Alright, stay right there and don’t cause any trouble. I’m sure whatever it is that the team wants me to do, it won’t take very long.” Oliver immediately tried to follow her. Of course, she hadn’t expected any less. “No, Oliver, stay there.” His ears drooped and he grumbled under his breath, but Felicity put the movie back on and he began watching it, letting her do her work.

By the time she signed on to comms with the team, it was already too late. Spartan, Speedy and the Black Canary had gone to intercept the Ghosts after gaining some intel from Felicity’s algorithm that Mercury Labs was going to be hit. They were in pursuit of the Ghosts after they’d stolen the rest of the components for the dirty bomb they needed, in the form of absorbents and stabilisers. Felicity helped them track them using CCTV and traffic cameras, and the team managed to intercept them long enough to salvage some of the materials, but the Ghosts did slip away into the shadows as they always did, with a fair amount of the stolen goods. A fair amount that, according to Lyla and Diggle, would be more than sufficient to make the dynamite needed for the bomb.

Felicity didn’t realise that Oliver was listening in until she turned to the side to grab a glass of water and jumped as she found the husky puppy seated on the floor beside her, staring unblinkingly. She sighed. She couldn’t very well keep Oliver out of the loop - he deserved to know what was going on, and being a puppy didn’t change the fact that he was the Green Arrow. Kicking a chair up so he could hop up and sit next to her, the blonde quickly filled him in. Oliver was very unhappy with the news, eyes flat back and lip curled up very slightly.

“I know, I don’t like any part of this either,” Felicity said quietly. “There’s nothing more we can really do though - Dig and Thea are going to contact STAR Labs so we have the proper means to track the radioactive particles from the sources the Ghosts stole, and Lance is going to gather as much evidence from the Mercury Labs crime scene as possible with Laurel.”

Oliver turned away, looking frustrated.

Stroking her hand down the puppy’s back, Felicity said sympathetically, “Oliver, I know you must be feeling pretty useless right now, but honestly, there is nothing either of us could really do to help. I’ll write some more algorithms tonight and tomorrow morning for Thea to set up on the systems, but the Ghosts - there’s no proper way to track their movements. Darhk is completely untraceable. There truly isn’t anything more we can do.”

That didn’t seem to placate the puppy, however, as the archer shook his head and jumped down from the chair, trotting over to the balcony window and sinking down onto his haunches, staring out over the heights of the city. It was such an Oliver thing to do that it made Felicity’s lips quirk in a slight smile, before she rose to her feet and joined him at the window, sitting cross-legged beside him, gazing at him worriedly. His blue eyes were fixed on the lights of Star City outside their window, although their view was partly obstructed by the balcony.

“You know, John always used to say that we could communicate and understand each other without having to talk to each other.” Oliver’s right ear flicked as he glanced over at her. She smiled. “I always thought he was exaggerating - never realised how right he was until you were turned into a puppy. I know what you’re thinking, hun.”

If puppies could raise their eyebrows, Felicity had the feeling that Oliver would have raised one at that moment.

“You’re thinking that you should have been out there with the team to stop this from happening.”

Oliver’s shoulders slumped and he ducked his head to his chest, letting out a small unhappy whine.

“I know that’s how you think, but we can’t dwell on what ifs and what should have’s and could have been’s.” Hugging him to her chest, Felicity bit her lip as he buried his head under her armpit strangely, wiggling free to pad over to the couch, pausing so she could catch up with him. It was only once they were both resting on the cushions and Oliver was cocooned in a blanket that Felicity spoke again, whispering into his ear, “What’s happened, happened. We can’t change the past, Oliver, we can only manipulate the future. The future is determined by decisions, and actions based on those decisions, perfectly capable by you, even in puppy form. You are not insignificant. You are not powerless. You are the man I love, and the man I can envision spending the rest of my life with. You are everything to me.”

Oliver sighed, his wet nose poking her neck as he crawled up to snuggle with her, finally calming down enough to fall asleep. Dimming the lights and lowering the volume of the TV using the remote, Felicity ran her fingers up and down his furry sides, closing her hands. Within seconds, their breathing evened. Within minutes, their heartbeats synced.

“G’night, baby,” she murmured, voice already slurred due to her exhaustion.

Oliver purred. It was a sound that Felicity was unfamiliar with, and wasn’t even sure dogs could make, so it did make her jolt in surprise, which caused the puppy to huff on top of her. 

“Love you, hun.” Her eyelids slipped closed. The wet scrape of the husky puppy’s tongue on her cheek made her groan. “Oliver.”

He was gazing down at her, his eyes also filled with exhaustion. But there was an immense gratitude and thankfulness within the sea of blue that made Felicity’s heart lurch with emotions, as Oliver plopped his head down on top of his paws and gave a soft mew, the small noise so loving and appreciative that it was easily translatable.

I love you too.

She nodded. “We’ll get through this,” she whispered, smiling as he nuzzled under her chin gently. “We’re getting through this. Only four more days to go, Oliver. Then you’ll be in human form again.” Under her breath, she added, “Although I can’t say I don’t mind you being a puppy right now.”

He huffed, ears swivelling.

“Kidding,” she promised. “I love you in whatever form you’re in. Puppy, human. Whatever. Whenever.” Her gaze grew slightly concerned as she questioned, “You know that, right?”

He nodded, whiskers twitching, but his eyes were half lidded as the puppy succumbed to exhaustion.

Satisfied, Felicity tilted her head down to rest on top of his, submitting to sleep as she sighed. “Good. G’night, Ol’ver.”

* * *


	6. ~ Part 6 ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our foray into Oliver POV! Now this - this was a lot of fun to write.
> 
> Thank you so much once again for all your support :) I very much appreciate it!
> 
> Hope you enjoy.

* * *

The face staring back at him in the mirror was a complete stranger, and Oliver had never felt so unsettled before. He’d lost count of how many minutes he’d been seated in front of the full-length mirror in his and Felicity’s shared bathroom, shifting uncomfortably and itching within his skin.

Perhaps it was due to the fact it wasn’t his skin that he was feeling so self-conscious.

He was in the form of a puppy. He had been for three days now. And the crippling helplessness, vulnerability, fear and anxiety he’d been experiencing since that day the metahuman had transformed him into a tiny husky hadn’t got much better. Narrowing his blue eyes at his current weak, flimsy form, Oliver scoffed in disgust. It just had to be a husky puppy, didn’t it? He could have been a wolf, or a mountain lion. Some kind of bird of prey. Even a fully grown dog would have been better. But no. A puppy. So small that Felicity could carry him around as if he weighed hardly anything, that he could crawl under the couch with no trouble, and he struggled to get up the stairs.

Sure, he’d been growing, so he felt slightly less awful than he had on the first day. Examining his temporary canine body carefully, Oliver stood onto his paws, which he’d slowly become surer on over the last two days. He’d grown overnight a little. The puppy fat was vanishing and his fluffy fur was thinning out, leaving a beautiful, short pelt behind. His twitching ears finally didn’t look too massive for his head, and his muscles were further developed and stronger. Felicity had mentioned off-handedly to him yesterday that he was beginning to look like a young wolf, rather than a puppy. So Oliver supposed that he was less vulnerable now. He’d been able to take on those guys attacking Felicity and Curtis the other day with not very much trouble.

It wasn’t the physical changes that were bothering the archer as much, though. It was the mental ones. Puppies, apparently, had no emotional barriers. None whatsoever. Which meant that Oliver was suffering horrifically from his mental illnesses. As a human being, he had managed to erect walls around his mind to cope with his depression, anxiety and PTSD. It had been immensely difficult and emotionally draining dealing with the suicidal and intrusive thoughts, severe insomnia, night terrors, panic attacks and flashbacks, but Oliver had been able to push through it, learn how to deal with it and reduce the frequency of those occurrences. As soon as he’d been turned into a puppy, however, those barriers had crumpled. He was being plagued by his mental illnesses once again, and he was drowning. His paranoia was destroying every single thought process - the slightest noise or movement made him jump, and with his heightened dog senses, it could be something as small as somebody inhaling that could set him off.

Felicity’s support had helped him a lot, as she had been trying to treat him exactly the same whilst aiding him through his anxiety attacks and episodes. She still treated him like a human being, which made him feel slightly better. The rest of the team, on the other hand, were making this incident the most humiliating and degrading experience of his entire life. They didn’t intend to, Oliver insisted to himself, but that insecure part of him that had been rearing its head lately told him that they were drawing his suffering out, enjoying his squirming. Laurel and Thea were probably the worst, what with all the smothering fussing and the photos and videos they were taking of him. Lance, Diggle and Laurel were acting as if he was made of glass, or in some cases, as if he was actually a puppy.

When Lance had angrily asked the team if there was anyway to turn Oliver back into his human form, he had been seething. Did the captain actually think that he _enjoyed_ being in the body of a husky puppy? That he _enjoyed_ feeling useless and powerless? He would do anything to get back into his old body early.

Because he was stuck as a puppy and couldn’t go out into the field as the Green Arrow, Darhk and his Ghosts now had all the components they needed to make a dirty bomb. His city was under threat, and he could do _nothing_.

He could only wait around and watch as his friends floundered around to try and stop it from happening. Felicity knew exactly how he was feeling, even called him out on it. It marvelled him how, even when he was a puppy, his girlfriend could read him. Her words from last night echoed in his mind, soothing down his frayed nerves:

“ _You are not insignificant. You are not powerless. You are the man I love, and the man I can envision spending the rest of my life with. You are everything to me._ ”

He wished he could express to her beyond affectionate licking and snuggling how much he loved her at that moment. She always knew what to say to make him feel better. He wouldn’t have survived his crusade without her and still, she remained at his side, saving him from his mental demons as he wallowed in misery in his puppy form. _You’re my everything as well, Felicity._

His ears perked and Oliver turned around towards the bathroom door when he caught the faint sound of Felicity’s footsteps approaching. The dog senses, he actually approved of. He’d learnt how to hone and enhance his senses on Lian Yu and in Hong Kong, using them to survive in Russia and on the streets, so he appreciated how useful the heightened hearing, sight and sense of smell were. The dog instincts were useful as well, although more irritating. The fact that he immediately got excited at the sight of a tennis ball was bemusing, and the sudden hatred of cats was new. So far, he’d managed to keep those instincts mostly under control, although if he lost a grip on his emotions or was put into a stressful situation, those natural tendencies did take over. Like biting Diggle, for example. Or growling at things he didn’t like. Or pissing on the structural beam in the bunker to mark his territory. Heaven forbid he begin wanting to bark at vacuum cleaners.

The blonde he had devoted his life to stuck her head around the door, looking down at him with a nervous smile. “Hey. You coming downstairs? I managed to fry up some bacon without setting anything on fire.”

_Oh no, you did NOT use my kitchen without me there!_ He disapproved, lips drawing back in a small snarl. 

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I wasn’t meant to use the kitchen without you there,” she rolled her eyes. “But you need to eat. I need to eat. Come on.”

Taking once last glance at his puppy form in the mirror, Oliver slunk out of the bathroom and trotted beside Felicity as they slowly made their way down the stairs. He now understood why dogs found it so difficult to traverse down staircases. It was _hard_. Co-ordinating four paws was awkward enough - co-ordinating four limbs, and a tail, down a rather jagged descending set of steps? Not good. Very not good. This time, however, he managed to get to the bottom without falling over once, and Oliver preened.

Felicity ruffled between his ears affectionately with a quiet laugh before heading back to the kitchen to make herself coffee using the Keurig machine. Catching the sharp whiff of salty bacon, Oliver licked his lips, the gnawing hunger in his stomach prompting him to bound over to her and whine pleadingly, batting at her leg. Shooting him an amused look, Felicity dropped the pieces of bacon, which Oliver leapt up and caught mid-air. Satisfied at his haul, the archer hopped up onto the couch and delicately began devouring the meat, gazing around searchingly as he observed his partner, working on the countertop.

Tilting his head, Oliver paused in his eating and let out a confused sound when he realised what Felicity was wearing. She was dressed in her Palmer-Tech-meeting dress. And he knew that because he’d caught her desperately attempting to iron it at four in the morning the day of her first face-to-face meeting with the PT board members.

“ _I’m going into battle, Oliver!_ ” she’d shrieked at him. “ _I need my armour!_ ”

Sniffing, Oliver finished off the bacon before jumping down and approaching her, asking with a questioning chuff, _Have you got a Palmer Tech meeting today?_

“There’s no more bacon, hun,” she smiled apologetically, sipping her coffee. When Oliver gave a frustrated sound at her not understanding what he was asking, she shrugged. “Sorry, that’s all we had in the fridge.”

_No_ , he said patiently. _I don’t want any more bacon. I have had enough bacon. Are we going to Palmer Tech for a meeting today?_

“Tough luck, Oliver, you finished the sausages the other day as well. We haven’t got anymore meat.”

_I’m not concerned about food!_ He growled.

Checking her phone, Felicity finally answered his original question, despite her obviously not knowing that was what he had been inquiring in the first place. “I have three extremely important meetings at Palmer Tech today that I can’t miss or rearrange. Unfortunately, that means you can’t come with me.” When Oliver’s ears flattened to his skull at hearing that, she sighed. “I know, baby, you want to come, but I really can’t bring a puppy into a meeting with Lucius Fox, now, can I?”

_Lucius likes dogs_ , he tried. _I mean, I don’t know that, but I’m sure he does. All nice people like dogs. And if he doesn’t like dogs, then… well… you know he’s not trustworthy enough to be working with. So really, I’d be doing you a favour coming to the meeting with you!_

Felicity was frowning, not having understood anything he just said. “Hmm. Thea’s tied up with maintaining your mayoral campaign with Alex, Laurel’s got a big court case today and Dig and Lyla have a private security event.” She bit her lip, wincing as she informed him in a sheepish voice, “That means Quentin is going to be dog sitting you.”

_NO! Absolutely not!_ Oliver protested immediately, fur bristling and hackles up as he unleashed another displeased growl.

“I’m sorry, hun, he’s the only member of the team available at the moment.” She quirked an eyebrow. “Unless you’d prefer sticking around with Curtis in his lab.”

_No thanks_ , he replied disdainfully. _I am NOT performing like a show dog again for him._

“Thought so,” Felicity smirked. “So, Captain Lance is it. I’ll shoot him a text and drop you off at the precinct before I head over to PT.”

_He was mean to me yesterday_ , was Oliver’s last protest, wrinkling his muzzle.

“He keeps beef jerky in his right bottom drawer,” Felicity offered.

Oliver narrowed his eyes. _Fine. I’ll stay with Quentin. But don’t expect me to like it._

* * *

_LEAVE ME ALONE._

“For god’s sake, Oliver, get out from under the desk!”

_NO._

As soon as they’d arrived at the precinct, Oliver had crawled into the small amount of space under Lance’s desk in his office and refused to come out, sulking. He knew it was childish and immature, but Felicity was going to be leaving him within the police captain’s care when he would much prefer to go with her, even if that meant he would be sitting under the conference table at Palmer Tech for several hours. The captain and his girlfriend had been attempting to get him out from under the desk for five minutes now, to no avail, and they finally seemed to be accepting that dragging the husky puppy out into the open wasn’t going to cut it.

“I’m so sorry, Quentin,” Felicity sighed, her heels clicking on the floor and making Oliver flinch repeatedly as she headed towards the office door. “He’s just upset that I’m leaving him. He’ll come out in ten minutes or so when he gets bored.”

“S’fine,” the captain replied, sounding amused. “Good luck at your meeting with Mr Fox.”

The door clicked shut, and panic overtook Oliver as he realised that he could now only hear one human’s breathing pattern. Felicity had left? Shuffling out from his hiding place, Oliver’s whiskers twitched and he whimpered softly as he caught sight of the blonde vanishing in the distance out of the precinct’s bullpen, off to her meeting.

“Yeah, she’s gone, kid,” Lance said, and Oliver whipped around to snarl up at him before disappearing under the desk again. “Aw, come on, don’t be like that.” Curling up and resting his head on his paws, Oliver ignored him. “If - if this is about yesterday, I’m sorry,” Lance continued, in a disgruntled tone. “I know this wasn’t your choice, and it was wrong of me to suggest that you’re dragging out time in your puppy form.”

_You have no idea how much I want to turn back_ , Oliver sighed, grunting.

Lance knelt down, grimacing at the effort, and leaned over to narrow his eyes at the puppy. “You seriously gonna hold a grudge over this?”

_Yes_ , he snapped, baring his canines at the captain, although he turned away with his ears flat against his head petulantly, more irritated than angered by this point. _At least for the next few minutes._

“Well, alright.” Rolling his eyes, Lance stood up again and drew his chair up, sitting himself down. Oliver’s ears twitched at the sound of rustling paperwork and a ballpoint pen scratching. “I’ve got work to do, so once you’re done moping about, feel free to come out and go exploring around the bullpen. I’ve told the men to expect a puppy nosing about, and I’ll leave the door open.”

Oliver squirmed when Lance’s feet bumped into his side, shooting to his paws and nipping at the human’s ankles in annoyance. When the captain didn’t react beyond nudging him in the side forcefully with the toe of his shoe, the puppy stretched out and plonked down on his behind, huffing. Usually, Oliver would have been able to brood in that position for hours, but as a puppy he’d developed a short attention span, so he grew bored quite quickly. Giving in, he slunk out from under the desk, pausing to shake out his fur, eyes squeezing shut as he stretched the tension out of his shoulders. He pretty much jumped out of his skin when Lance’s hand dipped down to stroke down his spine as he flexed his paws, although for the last few seconds, Oliver arched up into it, enjoying the brief contact and scratching behind his ears. Usually he didn’t like people stroking and petting him, but after his anxiety attack last night and touch sensitivity episode, the touch was reasonably welcomed.

The captain patted him towards the door. “Off you go,” Lance said, the fondness in his voice throwing the archer for a second. “I’ll be here if you need me. Don’t get into too much trouble… who am I kidding? It’s _you_. You’re always bound to end up in some sort of trouble.”

_It’s not like I go looking to start a commotion_ , Oliver huffed, trotting towards the door and nosing it open. _The commotion usually finds me._

The bullpen was, to all intents and purposes, interesting to investigate. His small size as a half grown husky puppy became an advantage to him as Oliver weaved around all the police officer’s legs, snuffling and sniffing out all the areas of the room, squeezing and shuffling under different tables and occasionally jumping up onto the desks to examine the contents of them. Lance’s older officers didn’t really pay him much attention, looking surprised for only a second before giving him a pat on his head and going back to work. The younger officers, however, were another story. Three officers immediately abandoned their duties to fuss over him, rubbing his belly and murmuring praise, awwing over the puppy. This would have pissed off Oliver if his touch sensitivity was playing up, but he was fine today, and he revelled at the chance to annoy Lance.

It only took a few minutes for the captain to realise what was going on, marching out of his office and barking, “Alright, you three, back to work. You’re not getting paid to pet and stroke puppies, as nice as that would be.” Raising a single eyebrow at the puppy, Lance pointed back to his office sternly. “Back in there, you little troublemaker.”

Oliver rested calmly on his haunches, trying to plaster an innocent look on his face, whiskers twitching. _I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve done absolutely nothing wrong._

“Don’t give me that look,” Lance scowled. “You know exactly what you were doing.” He tried to lean down to scoop the puppy up, but Oliver danced out of his reach, shit-eating grin on his face as he crouched down, tail wagging. “Don’t you dare make me chase you around this room, Oliver,” the captain gritted out. “Get back in my office. Now.”

Sniffing disdainfully, the husky whipped around and gracefully stalked back into the office, head held high. The other officers were snickering around them, finding this little showdown between their leader and the puppy hilarious. Lance gave a heavy sigh behind him, before following Oliver into the office. The puppy managed to jump and pull himself up onto the chair in front of the captain’s desk whilst Lance closed the door.

“Always the womanizer,” he grumbled, striding over to flick the husky’s nose, smiling when the archer wrinkled his muzzle. “I would accuse you of cheating on Felicity, if I didn’t know what you were trying to do. Yeah, Oliver, I can work out when you want to piss me off. You’re irritated that Felicity left you here with me, and you’re bored.”

_Well, true_ , Oliver admitted, ears twitching as he licked Lance’s fingers somewhat apologetically.

“Tell you what,” Lance sighed. “You let me finish my paperwork, and we’ll go out.”

Perking up, he questioned happily, _To see Felicity?_

Apparently his reaction was too easy to read, because Lance responded, “No, not to see Felicity. It’ll be a surprise. But you have to behave until I’m done with work.”

Oliver reached out and caught the captain’s shirtsleeve, tugging on it with a whine. _But I’m bored NOW._

“Half an hour,” Lance pleaded, yanking his sleeve from the puppy’s mouth and ruffling his scruff. “Half an hour, and then we’ll go out.” Under his breath, he muttered, “God, it’s like looking after a baby.”

Biting out a growl, Oliver nipped his fingers. _Excuse me!_

“Sorry,” the captain replied sheepishly. “Here, have some beef jerky.” And just like Felicity told him there would be, there was a bag full of beef jerky in the bottom right hand drawer. Entire body wiggling excitedly on the chair, Oliver snapped up the meat. “Okay, now let me work for thirty minutes. Hey, I’ll even tell you everything I know about what happened last night when the Ghosts stole those absorbents and stabilisers.”

Half an hour wasn’t a long period of time usually to Oliver, but in his puppy form, it was a lifetime. His short attention span meant that he very quickly became bored, resorting to gnawing on Lance’s shoelaces as he tried to occupy himself. His mind was spinning, racing a million miles an hour and he itched to do _something_. Even with the captain rambling aloud about everything that had occurred last night, he was bored. The minutes ticked down in his sub consciousness, and when thirty minutes exactly had passed, Oliver bolted out and frantically pounced onto Lance, howling loudly.

_TIME TO GO, TIME TO GO!_

Pushing him off, Lance chuckled and grabbed his coat. “Okay, okay! I get it, Oliver. Let’s go.”

Dashing into the bullpen with his tail wagging furiously, Oliver tried to contain his instinctive excitement at the idea of going out again. The archer wasn’t even particularly sure why he was so delighted; it was probably a dog thing. Lance was finding it funny, but when the husky skidded around a corner, tripping over an officer’s feet and almost careening into the side of a desk, the captain darted down to scoop him up.

“Careful, there,” he warned. “Felicity would murder me, physically and digitally, if you got hurt.” Raising his voice, he called out, “Jackson?”

A man’s head shot up from his desk, the other side of the bullpen. “Yes, boss?”

“I’m taking the pup out, ya wanna come with and bring Percival?”

“Sure,” Jackson agreed, and it was only once he stood that Oliver realised that he wasn’t just a normal SCPD officer; he was a police dog handler, as the little plaque on his desk said. He began to stiffen at the thought of facing another dog again. Last time had not gone well. “He’s napping outside the holding cells, I’ll just grab his leash and we can go.”

The officer vanished, and Oliver flipped his ears back against his skull and gave a small growl when Lance looked down at him with a grimace. _Don’t say it. Don’t._

“You’re gonna have to wear a collar and leash too,” the captain reminded him.

_I hate you_ , Oliver narrowed his eyes. _I will tear apart your shoelaces._

Lance set him back down on the floor and the husky arched his head upwards with a snarl to allow the captain to put a police issue collar and leash onto him, since Felicity hadn’t dropped off the ones Cisco gave them. He was gnawing angrily on the leash when Jackson returned, with an old looking German Shepherd at his side.

The German Shepherd huffed as they approached Lance and Oliver, and the husky froze in shock as he heard a grumpy, middle aged male voice complain, _Oh, it’s one of the young ones. Since when did the SCPD take on husky puppies to train?_

Startled, Oliver crept forwards, not believing his ears. The German Shepherd was talking? Or speaking dog. And… he could understand him? Warily, he questioned aloud, _You can talk?_

The dog gave him a look, replying dryly, _Yes, just like you can. You’re one weird pup_. He sniffed, edging closer, and then his eyes widened and his tail went between his legs as he growled, canines bared. _You’re not a pup. You smell… like a human._

Still astonished by the fact that Oliver could somehow understand dog language now, he nodded. _That’s because I am one. A metahuman transformed me into a puppy. I’m Oliver Queen._

_No, you’re not_ , the dog responded, lowering his head suspiciously. _You smell like - Him._

_Who?_

_You smell like Him. The - the Hooded one. The one who defends the city._ The Shepherd turned his head to huff at his handler and Lance, who were watching the two canines get acquainted amusedly whilst having some sort of conversation about a current case. _They call Him the Green Arrow._

_That’s me,_ Oliver agreed. It wouldn’t do any harm to tell a dog that he was the Green Arrow, would it? It wasn’t as if the dog could tell anybody. Sure, he was a police dog, but the SCPD mostly left the vigilantes and Team Arrow alone these days; they had an alliance of sorts, helped out by the fact that their captain was on the team himself. _I’m also Oliver Queen though._

_Interesting_ , the dog snorted. He sniffed him again. _You’re telling the truth. My name’s Percival. Well, that’s what my human calls me._

_Nice to meet you._ And it really was. He realised within a second that this was an amazing opportunity to gain intel on the inner workings of SCPD and some of the cases that Team Arrow were working for the SCPD. Dogs could get anywhere, could notice everything, hear and see things that humans couldn’t. Percival could end up giving him some extremely valuable information. _Any idea where they’re taking us?_ He motioned to Lance and Jackson.

_To the park, most likely_ , Percival yawned, thumping his tail on the ground as he sat down, snuffling his handler’s hand. _Been a slow day and haven’t had a chance to go out. Kind of wanted a break, to be honest, after everything that went down last night._

_Last night?_ Oliver prompted urgently, ears perking.

They were interrupted, however, by Lance and Jackson dragging them out of the precinct and to a police car, which they clambered into. Oliver sat still on one of the back seats with Percival lying down beside him, listening absentmindedly to the humans’ pointless conversation as he began wondering how it was possible that, despite the fact that he was still himself, with his human consciousness in a dog’s body, he could understand the language of canines. He couldn’t come up with any kind of plausible explanation, but noted that he should mention it to Felicity and Team Flash later on, after he was back in his human form.

It soon became clear to Oliver that Percival was right, as he pressed his face up against the window and gazed out over the park that lay before them, other canines running around the green space after tennis balls and frisbees just over the fence that cordoned off the area. Percival leapt out of the car, full of excited energy, and the husky puppy hopped out after him, allowing the captain to clip his leash back on with less enthusiasm. Percival was a police dog, and therefore was slightly more reserved, and hadn’t come racing up to the puppy with the intent to play. The dogs on the other side of that fence would no doubt want to engage in play with him, and come bounding up to him with the full intent of sniffing him or bowling him over. He didn’t understand that the twisting feeling in his stomach was nervous energy until Lance tried to lead him over to the entry gate and he dug his paws into the asphalt, tugging back.

“What’s the matter?” Lance asked, a frown marring his brow as he pulled more forcefully on the leash, yanking Oliver forwards a few metres. It was only once the husky puppy released a panicked whine and the captain reached down to lift him into his arms, trying to soothe him. “Hey, it’s okay. Why’re you freaking out?”

_What’s wrong, pup?_ Percival questioned, drawing Oliver’s attention. The German Shepherd had his tail raised in a friendly motion, head cocked sideways. _It’s the park!_

_I haven’t really met other dogs before_ , Oliver replied quietly, squirming in Lance’s arms a little so that the captain held him in a more comfortable position. _The first dog I met - he attacked me. You were okay because you didn’t run up to me and weren’t too enthusiastic in your approach._

_Ah_. Percival huffed under his breath. _Understandable._

Proving that his handler was just in tune with the police dog as Oliver often was to Felicity, Officer Jackson caught on to the way that Percival was glancing back and forth between the park and the puppy and suggested, “Has he met many dogs before?”

Lance exhaled. “No. I don’t suppose so. I guess you could say that the first dog he met tried to attack him and his owner.” He scratched behind Oliver’s ears and under his chin, comforting the somewhat distressed puppy. “Maybe we should find a quieter area?”

They did manage to find a corner of the park that wasn’t so vastly occupied by canines, and when Oliver finally allowed off the leash, he took advantage of the freedom to burst into a frantic sprint and run as far away from Lance as he possibly could, whilst making sure that the police captain could still see him. He didn’t want Lance freaking out and thinking his going AWOL was running away, because that would result in a very angry Felicity. And Felicity’s loud voice was scary. Slowing to a trot, tongue lolling out of his mouth as he panted, Oliver turned back around in a wide loop, satisfied that the writhing ball of energy inside of his chest had been reduced. The German Shepherd bounded up next to him, appearing much more tired and his body language he was wary of going up to the husky.

_You’re fast,_ Percival noted. _Needed the run?_

_Like you wouldn’t believe_ , Oliver grunted, as the two of them began loping back towards the two humans. _Usually, I go for a run every morning as a human, and as the Green Arrow I can get a lot of energy out by patrolling the streets. I haven’t been able to run properly in days._

They played fetch for several minutes, Lance and Jackson throwing tennis balls for them to run and bring back. Oliver tripped over a few times, tiny legs working so fast beneath him that he stumbled, but he always managed to get back to give the captain his tennis ball before Percival did, and he could tell that the Shepherd was impressed. Fetch was a rather stimulating game, and Oliver found himself enjoying it, much to his astonishment. The exercise it was giving him was good, and he felt an immense wave of satisfaction whenever he dropped the ball at Lance’s feet. They abandoned the game after the police dog promptly became bored of it, however, heading off to do their own thing a short way away from the two humans.

_Heads up_ , Percival perked up, ears twitching. He went still, on the alert, and Oliver paused, head swivelling around urgently to try and catch what the older dog had seen. _We’ve got some Hounders._

Oliver repeated the word with incredulity, but then saw the two dogs that were racing through the trees towards them. He inched behind Percival and narrowed his eyes, hackles rising as he observed the newcomers. One of them was a wiry sand-coloured female corgi, whilst the other was a well-groomed tri-coloured male spaniel.

_HI!_ the spaniel greeted them, lively and happy, obviously without a care in the world. That sort of personality generally grated on Oliver a lot, so the husky puppy’s ears went back against his skull and he lowered his head, uttering a small growl of warning. _Hey, Percival! New pup?_

_Wouldn’t do that if I were you, Jasper,_ the Shepherd warned. The Spaniel was trying to sneak up to the husky to give him a firm sniff, but as soon as he came close, Oliver snarled and ground his canines, telling him to stay away. _This is Oliver._

_He smells familiar,_ the corgi noted, her bored, carefree tone making the husky tilt his head. _Hasn’t been here in the park before though. Might have caught his scent around the block._

_That’s because he’s Him, Rosie,_ Percival informed the corgi quietly, leaning in with a huff. Oliver rolled his eyes, sitting down on his haunches and scratching his side with his hind leg. He could hear everything they were saying. 

Jasper, the spaniel’s demeanour changed entirely, immediately transforming into awe. _Oh gosh! Wow! It’s - it’s an honour to meet you, Mr Arrow, Green Arrow, sir!_

_You too, I guess_ , Oliver responded, ear flicking backwards.

The spaniel began to go off on a long rant about how he’d come across the Green Arrow’s scent many a time around Star City and had tried tracking him down several times, almost tracking him to his secret headquarters once or twice. This was, of course, all made-up and quite obviously a fabrication the lively dog was inventing in an attempt to impress Oliver. The husky, however, switched off the conversation about two sentences in, more interested in gazing around the area to check for threats and other dogs, and also make sure that Lance was still within his sight line. About three minutes into the spaniel’s rave, after Percival and the corgi had lain down on the grass, disinterested, one of Jasper’s comments made Oliver whip around to him, blinking rapidly.

_What did you say?_ he asked sharply.

_What?_ The spaniel looked thrown, shifting awkwardly on his paws.

_You - repeat your last sentence_ , Oliver demanded.

_I said that as I was tracking a strange scent that I thought was the Black Bird’s scent last night down by the docks after escaping my yard, that I was cut off just after reaching the gate that led to that big building that smelt like very strong pepper iron -_

_Pepper iron_ , Oliver repeated, shaking his head. He turned to Percival. _I’ve never smelt something like that before. What does that mean?_

_That’s usually how we describe the smell of radiation,_ Percival informed him, yawning. _Must have been a lot, though, to actually get a scent that powerful - whoa, wait, Oliver! What -?_

He had already torn off back towards Lance, his heart beating a million miles per hour in his chest, making it almost ache. Radiation. A large amount of radiation, enough that it could be sensed by dogs, down by the docks in a big building. Probably a warehouse. Had a random spaniel he’d met in the park somehow just given him the location of where Darhk and the Ghosts were storing the components for the dirty bomb? They needed to check that out, as soon as possible. Even if it was just the dog mixing up scents, the fact that Percival had confirmed that the scent of pepper iron was associated with radiation solidified it in the archer’s mind that Team Arrow had a good chance of finding the stolen radiation source in a warehouse at the docks.

Skidding into Lance’s legs, he nearly sent the man flying as he jumped up at the captain, barking and howling desperately. Lance seemed to have no idea what was going on, just pushing him off with a weird, confused expression and repeatedly asking what was wrong. Oliver backed off, frustrated, and he bit out a loud snarl with his tail raised to emphasise how pissed off he was at the captain. He knew, however, that it wasn’t Lance being dense - it was the communication barrier. There was no way he was going to be able to get through to the captain and make him understand. Oliver reckoned that even with Felicity, he’d have difficulty getting what he wanted and what they needed to do across.

Straightening up and lifting his head, ears perking, Oliver turned away and strode towards the exit to the park. He knew what he had to do. If he wasn’t going to be able to communicate with Lance or with the team in any way, there was no point in waiting. They needed to check out the docks immediately for the radiation source, and it could take hours, even days, for him to convey to the team about the information tip. The most logical thing to do was to check it out himself.

It was a stupid, reckless idea, and Oliver knew that he was going to get into a lot of trouble and probably get yelled at a lot for it… but he had to go this alone. He was going to run off, get himself down to the docks, and investigate that pepper iron smell. If it did turn out to be where the Ghosts were storing the radiation source, then Oliver would run back to the Lair, grab reinforcements and they would storm the place. If not, then Oliver would just get shouted at a lot and most likely would not be allowed out from the Loft until he transformed back into human form.

It was worth the risk. If a lone wolf excursion could help stop Darhk and the Ghosts from making their dirty bomb to destroy the city with, then Oliver wasn’t going to let anything stop him.

He stepped up his walk to a steady canter just as Lance seemed to realise his intention, catching on to how the puppy was running towards the exit gate. The captain shouted out, waving his arms in the air as he sprinted after the husky puppy, but Oliver managed to dash out of the gate, thus achieving freedom before the police captain was even half way to him.

Slipping across the road and onto the street, it didn’t take long for Oliver to lose them. He could hear Percival’s frantic barking from a mile away, but he crouched under parked cars and behind dumpsters until he was sure the coast was clear. Hiding whilst watching the police car turn a corner, the husky stretched out before beginning to head off in the opposite direction, his strides confident and certain as he trotted down the street in the direction of the docks.

_Sorry, Felicity. It’s my duty as the Green Arrow to defend this city, whatever form I’m in._

_Like you said:_ ‘The future is determined by decisions, and actions based on those decisions, perfectly capable by you, even in puppy form.’

_This is my decision. And I will do whatever it takes to stop Darhk and his Ghosts from destroying this city. Even if it kills me._

_Though it’s more likely that by the time I’m done with this mission and back home, it’ll be you killing me._

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading :) Please leave kudos or comment.
> 
> Tumblr: @alexiablackbriar13  
> Twitter: @lexiblackbriar


	7. ~ Part 7 ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And since you all hated that last cliffhanger, here I am, back with another chapter... with yet another cliffhanger.
> 
> Enjoy!

* * *

Felicity practically waltzed back into Curtis’ lab, glee thrumming through her body as she strode the corridors of Palmer Tech, head held high and a gigantic smile on her face. As soon as she entered the workspace and caught sight of her friend, she announced smugly, “Guess who just closed a R&D funding deal with Wayne Enterprises?”

Curtis’s head popped up from behind the desk where he was working on his T-spheres, a beaming grin spreading across his lips. “That’s amazing, Miss Smoak!” he praised. “Mr Palmer was trying to get Mr Fox to sign a deal with him for three months, and you managed it in just one meeting!”

“Who runs the world? Girls,” Felicity relayed happily, clapping her hands together. It hadn’t taken much persuasion to convince Lucius that working with Palmer Tech, and specifically working with Felicity, was the best chance for both of their companies to make a massive R&D breakthrough. It helped that Bruce Wayne himself had been attempting to sign Felicity onto his staff for four years now. “That was my last meeting of the day, so I’m going to head out and pick up Oliver.”

“Oliver your boyfriend, or Oliver the puppy?” Curtis questioned.

“Puppy,” she answered, giving him a tight smile. “My Oliver is… occupied, right now.”

“Oh. How long is he going to be gone for?”

“Uh, a few more days. Not really sure. He said it could take up to a week for him to get the job… done.” Felicity really needed to work on her lying skills. Maybe Oliver could teach her how to cheat a polygraph. “It’s fine though,” she reassured, when Curtis sent her a sympathetic look. “I can cope without my boyfriend for a week, Curtis.” Even though her boyfriend had never even left. “I’ve got a puppy to occupy my time.”

Waving goodbye to her employee, Felicity quickly traversed back to her office to grab her coat, heading into the bathroom to change into a pair of black skinny jeans and a plaid shirt. She loved wearing her dresses and the particular dress she’d been wearing during the meetings had made her feel powerful, but she preferred to drive home in comfortable clothes. After telling her EA to take the rest of the day off, she practically skipped to the elevator. It was early afternoon, so after picking Oliver up from the precinct, they would easily have enough time to go on an adventure around the city, maybe even walk to the Lair and play around in there for a while.

She felt slightly guilty about the fact that she’d foisted Oliver off on Lance, when she knew that the puppy was still annoyed with the captain about what happened last night. It was a wonder that the captain hadn’t called her yet to complain. Frowning, Felicity pulled her cell phone out of her purse, beginning to turn it back on. She’d switched it off just before her meetings had started; it wasn’t exactly professional to have phone calls interrupting business proposals, after all, and she’d wanted to impress Lucius Fox by showing how dedicated and committed she was to making the R&D funding proposal work out.

As soon as the screen became active, Felicity took a sharp intake of breath, going still.

_34 Missed Calls._

Most of them were from Lance, although the last few were from Thea and Diggle. Something must have happened. Worry struck her and Felicity had to steady herself by placing a hand on the elevator wall as the doors opened. What if Darhk and the Ghosts had made their move with the dirty bomb? What if something had happened to Oliver!? She was about to call the captain back when her cell phone began ringing again, Thea’s name and photo lighting up.

Heart clenching, she picked up, asking immediately, “What’s wrong?”

_“... You have to promise not to get angry.”_

Oh god, something bad had definitely happened. “Thea. What. Happened,” she growled.

_“You have to promise not to use your Loud Voice!”_

“I will use my Loud Voice if the situation calls for using my Loud Voice,” Felicity replied, trying to stay calm but starting to panic. Thea sounded very nervous. Usually the younger Queen didn’t get nervous about anything. “But I promise I will not use it unnecessarily. What’s going on?”

_“You need to get to the Lair. I’m here already with Dig, he pulled out of the security job, and Lance has just arrived.”_

“With Oliver?”

_“... You need to get to the Lair.”_

* * *

_“YOU LOST MY BOYFRIEND?”_ Felicity screeched.

Lance shrunk in his seat, and both Diggle and Thea winced for him. Felicity, however, didn’t care if she was scaring them with her Loud Voice. She’d stormed into the Lair, demanding to know what was going on, and seconds later, as soon as she’d realised a certain husky puppy was absent from the room, she’d freaked out. The police captain had been forced to hesitantly and quietly explain what had happened and now? Now, Felicity was furious.

“Sweetheart -” Lance started pleadingly, holding his hands up placatingly, but Felicity wouldn’t stand for it.

“DON’T call me sweetheart!” she shouted. “I can’t believe this! You LOST Oliver!”

“He ran off, Felicity. There’s a difference,” Diggle tried to butt in to defend Lance. Felicity slowly turned to him and levelled a lethal glare. Almost instantly, the man shifted and backed down, muttering, “But yeah, it’s pretty bad that you lost him, Captain.”

“I didn’t _lose_ him!” the captain insisted. “He _ran away_.”

“And you didn’t stop him?” Felicity shrieked. “He’s a PUPPY. It’s not like it would have been hard!”

“Well, Oliver can be quite fast when -” Diggle cautiously interrupted again, but this time when Felicity whipped and pointed at him warningly, he crossed his arms and mumbled, “Yep, okay, shutting up now.”

“I tried to stop him, Felicity, I swear to god, I did!” Lance responded, raking his hands over his head as he began to pace anxiously back and forth to the med bay, rubbing his face. “He just - he just bolted before I even knew what was happening, and I have no idea why. Did I do something wrong? Was he upset? I don’t know, Felicity, I don’t know!” He shouted the last sentence, and he sounded so genuinely distressed that the blonde deflated, biting her lip. “Oliver just ran! And now he’s out there on the streets, alone, as a husky puppy and I can’t - Jackson and I, we searched the area for three hours, Felicity! Either he fled the area, or he was hiding from us, and I don’t know what’s worse!”

Thea stepped in, raising her voice to demand, “Okay, why don’t we all just calm down?” Felicity swallowed, nodding in agreement whilst trying to hide the fact that her hands were shaking. Both Diggle and Lance uttered their acceptances as well. “Let’s start from the beginning, try and work out why exactly Oliver ran off. Was he acting weird or off at all before that, Captain?”

Lance settled a little, coming to stand still in his pacing and replying, “Yeah, uh, I guess he was acting a bit strange. He was off playing with the other dogs and then he just came running up to me and starting barking and howling. Jumping up at me and everything. He stopped and that was when he ran to the gate and slipped me.”

“And what did he seem like? Emotionally? Was he angry?” Thea continued.

“Well, didn’t seem like it. It was like he was desperate, to be honest. And then when he stopped barking and jumping at me, he was all frustrated.”

An insane idea coming to mind, Felicity questioned wildly, “Wait, did you say he was playing with other dogs?”

“Yeah. Percival, one of our police dogs, and two other ones that were in the park at the time. Was kind of freaked out at first at the idea, but he seemed to warm up to it.”

Turning to Thea and Diggle with wide eyes, Felicity sounded rather breathless when she suggested, “Who wants to bet that those dogs said something to Oliver that caused him to bolt?”

Diggle frowned. “You think that Oliver was talking to them?”

“It makes sense,” Thea glanced between them. “I mean… he is technically a dog. He can probably understand dog language right now.”

“So what if the dogs tipped him off with some information?” She knew that it sounded completely crazy, but it was all coming together in her head. She knew Oliver like the back of her hand. The only explanation she had for Oliver suddenly running off on his own to be a lone wolf was that he knew something they didn’t, and it was urgent. “What if when he was barking and howling at you, he was trying to tell you something, and then when you didn’t understand, he decided to get on with it himself?”

“That sounds like Oliver,” Diggle admitted.

Felicity shook her head. It did sound like Oliver. Oliver was exactly the type of person who would run off to get a job done himself if communicating was too difficult. It was a trait that she and Diggle had been attempting (and failing) to train the archer out of.

Oh, she was going to _murder_ him when she found him. Her boyfriend knew that going off on a mission solo was sheer stupidity, and sure, it would have been hard to get them to understand, but a delayed response to whatever was going on would be better than Oliver going off in puppy form to confront it himself. He was so weak and vulnerable in that form. Felicity couldn’t help but worry immensely for him. The world was so big, and he was so _small_. He could so easily get hit by a car, attacked by other dogs or heaven forbid, dognapped or taken to the pound.

“We need to find him,” she announced firmly, satisfied that her voice didn’t tremor, despite how shaken and upset she felt. “Right now. I’ll check traffic cameras and CCTV.”

“Oliver knows how to stay off the radar, Felicity,” Diggle sighed. He followed her up the steps to the computer platform, though, and placed a supportive hand on her shoulder as she began her searches. “If he doesn’t want to be found, then he won’t be found.”

“There’s one thing he hasn’t taken into account,” Felicity replied, shaking her head. A quick search across the internet with a search tool algorithm she constructed within seconds gave her instant results, and she punched the air triumphantly. “The public? Suckers for puppies.”

About three dozen photos from Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Tumblr and Instagram accounts belonging to Star City citizens popped up onto screen. All of them were pictures of Oliver as a husky puppy. They were from different angles, but they clearly showed the pup determinedly striding along the sidewalk towards an unknown destination, with captions underneath the photos and varying comments about the husky’s adorableness. Felicity combed through them, looking for the most recent one, whilst secretly saving several of them to her desktop.

“This one was taken twelve minutes ago down by the docks,” Thea pointed out.

“That’s where he is,” Felicity turned back to them, snatching up her leather jacket from the back of her chair. “He’s down by the warehouses near the docks.”

“That’s all the way across town from where the park is. Why would he be there?” Lance questioned with a confused expression.

Diggle shook his head. “He would have a reason. Something’s going down that we don’t know about. We’ve gotta get down there, fast.”

Thea caught his wrist as he was jogging down the steps, protesting, “It’s the middle of the day. We can’t suit up. I’m not exactly going to be inconspicuous wandering around downtown with my bow and quiver.”

“Then ditch your bow for a gun,” Diggle said.

“I don’t like guns,” Thea pouted.

“And I’m sure Oliver won’t like it when we don’t get there in time and he drowns when he accidentally falls off the docks in his tiny, vulnerable little puppy form and can’t get back up.”

Felicity slammed her hands over her ears, completely horrified. “ _Why would you say something like that!?”_

“I’m sorry -” Diggle tried to offer an apology, but Felicity just shook her head, wide eyed. “I’m just concerned about him, okay?” the man said, voice frustrated. “Oliver’s the strongest out of all of us, he’s survived so much trauma and at the moment he could so easily get hurt or get himself killed. He’s like a brother to me, Felicity.”

“And he’s the love of my life,” Felicity replied quietly, wrapping her arms around herself. “We’re all worried, John.”

They headed out to the docks, Lance leading the way in his police cruiser and Felicity seated in the passenger seat with her portable set up resting on her lap. Diggle and Thea were following behind in the black van they usually used for missions, and had decided to bring along their suits just in case they ran into some Ghosts. The police captain had sent a few of his officers ahead to clear the area just in case a fight of any kind broke out, but the absence of public eyes meant that it would be reasonably safe for Spartan and Speedy to come out.

Felicity shot off a few texts to Laurel and Lyla about the situation before turning her attention back to her laptop, swiftly hacking into the very few privately owned security cameras that monitored the docks area. The nervous energy inside of her was making her stomach turn and one of her knees was bouncing up and down anxiously, jigging her laptop up and down, which was not helping very much with her searches. After five minutes of scanning through all of the CCTV, the blonde was ready to scream through her teeth in frustration. She couldn’t find Oliver anywhere. She probably would have punched something (not her precious laptop though, she knew the value of it) if Lance hadn’t interrupted.

“Felicity, I really am sorry about losing Oliver,” he muttered, eyes fixed on the road but hand lifting off the gearbox to pat her arm somewhat hesitantly. “I should have kept a better eye on him. You trusted me with looking after him and I failed you. Both of you.”

“You didn’t lose him,” Felicity sighed, rubbing her eyes. “I wasn’t being rational before. Oliver ran off, and even if you’d managed to catch up with him, if he didn’t want you to catch him, then you wouldn’t have been able to anyway. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I’m just… very worried about him. And pissed off at him.”

Lance gave an amused shake of his head as he turned the cruiser so they were heading down the one-way street to the docks. “You gonna use your Loud Voice on him?”

“Oh, you betcha,” she replied seriously. “He knows perfectly well that going lone wolf is a big no-no.” Frowning, she questioned, “Wait, how’d you know about my Loud Voice?”

“I just experienced it,” the captain reminded her. “And… Laurel might have mentioned it to me, once or twice. Apparently you used it a lot last year.”

“Last year was a trying time.” Felicity rubbed her temples, her brain hurting just thinking about everything that went down after Sara’s death with Ra’s Al Ghul, the League of Assassins and Al Sahim. “A lot of bad things happened. Oliver made a lot of impulsive decisions out of fear and desperation without consulting with the team - kind of like he’s doing right now.”

The conversation didn’t go any further, because they arrived at the docks and drove past the police barrier that Lance’s officers had put up, being waved through once they saw their captain was at the wheel. Clambering out, Felicity put a sweep search to work on her tablet that she would be carrying around, to check all the CCTV again for anything vaguely puppy-like. Both Diggle and Thea decided that since there didn’t seem to be any civilians about, they could suit up as long as they kept in the shadows. They were about to begin their search when Diggle called Felicity’s name and passed over a handgun to her.

“Are you sure you should be giving her that thing?” Lance questioned, alarmed.

Felicity shot him an annoyed look, she tucked her tablet under her arm so that she could expertly load the magazine, clear the chamber and check the safety, before sticking it into the back of her skinny jeans. When she glanced up, she smiled at the look of shock on the captain’s face, and Thea’s impressed expression. Diggle merely appeared smug.

“I’ve spent four years on Team Arrow, you really think that Oliver and Dig would let that much time pass without giving me firearms training?” she chuckled dryly. 

“You been practicing like I told you to?” Diggle asked.

“Oliver’s taken me to a range several times,” she replied. “According to him, I’m a good shot. He even got me practicing with some M4 carbines.”

“So that’s how you had such good control over that automatic,” Diggle nodded, a grin spreading across his face. “Although, you know, when firing an automatic you really should look where you’re aiming it, and not fire blindly.”

“When exactly did this happen?” Thea questioned, looking between them both with wide eyes as she sheathed her sword and picked up her bow. Yanking her hood up into place, she continued, “This sounds like an interesting story.”

“I’ll tell you about it later,” Felicity sighed. “We need to start looking for Oliver, that’s more important.”

“Alright, we’ll split up,” Diggle suggested, pulling on his helmet. “Captain, if you go with Thea, I’ll go with Felicity. You see anything, you call it in over comms.”

“Copy that,” Lance responded.

Thea nocked an arrow to her bow in agreement. “Let’s move out.”

Keeping her eye on her tablet screen and letting Diggle take the lead as they began heading west down the docks, whilst Thea and Lance took the east, Felicity followed Spartan to the nearest warehouse. It was empty inside of it when they checked, and they moved on to look inside the next one. Her tablet began beeping just as they were about to reach for the door handle and Felicity startled, her hand darting out to grab at her friend’s arm. Hope fleeted through her for a brief moment, and her fingers danced across the screen. Inhaling sharply, the blonde scrambled to drag Diggle closer to her.

The CCTV showed a husky puppy snuffling around the edges of one of the warehouses. It was obviously Oliver, and Felicity was relieved to see that he didn’t look hurt in any way. He was only within view of the camera for around seven seconds before the puppy’s head shot up, ears twitching, and he slunk off out of sight.

Diggle pointed at where the warehouse’s number was displayed in white paint. “That’s only two down from here.” He motioned in the direction that it was, and Felicity arched her neck in desperation, trying to see whether or not she could catch sight of Oliver. “What’s he up to?”

Felicity began storming to where they’d seen the husky roaming about. “We’ll find out soon enough.” As soon as she had the puppy safe in her arms, with her nose buried in his fur, and was assured that he was okay, the blonde was going to flay him alive. What did he think he was doing, running headfirst into danger without back up? He was in for a very long lecture about trusting and leaning on friends for support when she had him back.

Diggle slowed her down by catching her arm, and quickly called it in over the comms so that Thea and Lance would come and back them up. From his Spartan jacket, he withdrew a black ski mask, which he handed over to the blonde, gesturing for her to pull it on. Felicity pouted. The blonde hated ski masks. After receiving a stern glance from her partner, she rolled her eyes and gave in, yanking it on unhappily. Then, with Felicity shielded behind Diggle, they crept over to the warehouse, the blonde CEO whispering Oliver’s name urgently. The puppy was nowhere to be seen, but both of them could hear voices coming from the warehouse.

Alarm bells instantly went off in Felicity’s head. All these warehouses were meant to be unoccupied. Oliver really had been onto something. Motioning to Diggle to be quiet, she pressed her ear up against the metal door.

Hearing muffled conversations and trying to focus in to understand what they were saying, she jumped when Diggle tapped her shoulder and motioned to the alleyway next to the building. There was a stack of hardy looking crates piled next to it, just underneath a broken window. Perfect for spying and eavesdropping. She tucked her tablet under her leather jacket and zipped it up for safekeeping, and with her partner’s help, managed to climb the pile with relative ease. She’d never been happier that she’d taken those yoga and fitness classes. Slightly out of breath, but very satisfied, she peeked into the window, and Diggle had to clap a hand over Felicity’s mouth when she gasped loudly.

Darhk and his Ghosts were clearly visible inside, with Darhk standing over a table that was filled with materials. Materials for making a bomb. The radioactive source bucket was tucked underneath the table, fortunately still with the lid secured. Oliver’s ridiculous puppy antics and reckless running away had resulted in them finding where the Ghosts were operating from. It wasn’t seeing Darhk and the Ghosts that caused her to gasp, however - it was the tiny husky puppy crouched behind a tyre stack in the corner of the warehouse. Somehow, Oliver had managed to sneak inside. He seemed to be spying on them as well.

“There he is,” she whispered to Diggle, pointing. Her heartbeat was thumping in her ears and her hand was shaking a little due to how terrified she was at that moment at the thought of her boyfriend, in vulnerable puppy form, being stuck in the same building as Damien Darhk. “How do we get him out of there?!”

Diggle shook his head, eyes narrowed underneath his helmet and fixed on the scene in front of him. “I don’t know,” he replied, voice equally quiet. Neither of them wanted to alert the Ghosts to their presence. “Let’s get down and regroup with Thea and Quentin, then we can -”

Both of them almost yelped and fell off the crates when the warehouse doors smashed open and Speedy and Lance appeared, Thea firing off arrows repeatedly whilst Lance fired his handgun at all the Ghosts. Thea was fully dressed as Speedy, and Lance was wearing a bullet proof dark vest and a ski mask, to ensure he wouldn’t be recognised. Darhk looked absolutely furious, but his tone was scarily calm as he ordered to his Ghosts, “Kill them.”

Diggle was already scrambling down from the pile beside her, yelling back in a harsh whisper for her to remain there, out of the way of the danger. Felicity was too stunned to move anyway, frozen to the spot as she watched. Oliver was still crouched behind the tyre stack, but she could see, even from this distance, that his hackles were raised and his lips were drawn back in a snarl.

Thea was taking down most of the Ghosts with no trouble, alternating between firing arrows into armed men rushing towards her and cutting them down at close range with her sword. As she was fighting two Ghosts at once, Felicity yelled out a warning to the younger Queen when one tried to attack her from behind. Before Thea could react, the husky puppy dashed out with a fierce growl and tripped the Ghost over using his body.

Fear drowning out all other emotions, Felicity scrambled down from the crates and ran at a full sprint to the entry doors of the warehouse, whipping her handgun out with surprisingly steady hands. As soon as Oliver had revealed himself, he had placed himself in danger, and she would do anything to protect him. Skidding into the doorway, her lungs seized, breathing halting. One of the Ghosts was holding Oliver in the air by the scruff whilst the puppy yowled furiously, and Felicity aimed at him and fired without a second thought. The Ghost collapsed.

_Nobody_ threatened her boyfriend. Not when she was around.

Oliver thankfully landed on all four paws, appearing shaken but unharmed. “OLIVER, GET OVER HERE!” Felicity frantically shrieked, in hope that he would run to her. “STOP TRYING TO PLAY HERO!”

Going still and his ears perking, Oliver stared at her, and the apology she could see within his blue eyes made her breath stutter.

“Please come back to me,” she whispered, knowing he would be able to hear.

He lowered his head, ears flicking back against his skull as he gave a regretful whine. Instead of bowling into her arms as Felicity had dared to hope, the husky barrelled towards Darhk with an angry snarl. The villain was standing to the side with a dark expression on his face, watching the fighting whilst overseeing the transfer of all the bomb materials into a black van. Lance and Diggle, however, had secured the radioactive material, the captain draped over it as he fired rounds into the very few remaining conscious Ghosts that came near, with Spartan covering his back with more gunfire.

Oliver bit into Darhk’s ankle with another enraged growl, and Felicity couldn’t breath for a moment, choked up with terror as the man just looked down at the puppy in disdain.

“What do we have here?” he drawled.

The man kicked Oliver off his leg and the puppy flew backwards with a yelp of pain and surprise, rolling backwards over himself twice before landing on his behind, dazed. Darhk slowly raised his gaze up to her, and Felicity pointed the gun at him, her hands now trembling so much that she could hardly aim. She had the ski mask over her face to mask her identity, but she’d never felt so laid bare.

A very sinister grin crossed the villain’s face and he reached down and grabbed Oliver by the scruff, laughing when the puppy yelped and struggled in his grasp, teeth gnashing angrily and claws flying in all directions. “What a tiny, repugnant, filthy little creature.” Darhk bared his teeth in a menacing smile, shaking the husky and making Oliver whimper, hanging helplessly from his grip. Turning to Felicity, he questioned mockingly, “Team Arrow’s mascot, I suppose?”

“Leave him alone,” Felicity said, her voice shaking. “He’s a puppy, he’s done _nothing_ to you.” God, she hoped that Darhk couldn’t read minds. By the way that he was looking at Oliver though, he just thought he was a puppy. He didn’t know that the tiny dog was actually the Green Arrow.

Felicity’s voice drew the attention of the other members of Team Arrow, and the battle very gradually drew to a halt. Speedy, Spartan and Lance stopped fighting when they saw that the super villain had the puppy in his grasp, and the Ghosts backed off, tracking back to their leader but still aiming their guns at the Team Arrow members.

“Ah. Very interesting. This puppy is important to you,” Darhk said, voice dripping with surprised delight, the gleam in his eyes making Felicity’s stomach turn. “And if this puppy is important to Team Arrow, that means he’s important to the Green Arrow.”

Darhk raised his hand in front of the husky and slowly clenched his first, and the tingle and dark aura Felicity could feel in the air made her almost fall to her knees in horror, because the man was so obviously trying to use his magic to choke Oliver. Except, nothing happened. Darhk’s expression changed from one of evil glee to confusion and frustration, and he slowly closed his hand into a fist again, but there was nothing.

Oliver seemed to realise at the same time as Felicity, because the puppy began fighting even harder within Darhk’s grip, flailing and snapping furiously. _Darhk’s magic didn’t work on dogs._ After a brief, tense moment, however, the man chuckled. “Keep the radioactive source. My magic might not work on this runt, but I think I’ve gained something much more precious today.”

She desperately wanted to run and snatch Oliver from his hands, but she was one woman with one gun she couldn’t even hold properly in her shaking hands, and the Ghosts were backing up, flanking Darhk as they headed away. The scream that escaped Felicity’s throat, at the sight of the super villain thrusting the flailing, whimpering husky puppy towards one of his Ghosts, was ungodly. Oliver gave one last terrified, frantic howl before he was stuffed into a black bag and tossed into the back of the van. Before Felicity could even comprehend what was happening, that her _puppy boyfriend was being kidnapped by Damien Darhk,_ Darhk had disappeared using his magic and the Ghosts were driving off in the van, leaving Team Arrow behind in the dust.

_Oh my god._

_Oliver._

_Oh my god, NO._

She ran after them, adrenaline surging through her arteries. The horror she was feeling was clawing at her chest and leaving her feeling as if she was dying inside. The van was gone, vanishing into the distance. Even if they got back to the Arrow van to take chase, they wouldn’t be able to catch up to them. Shakily and choking on the sobs she couldn’t seem to control, Felicity yanked out her tablet, only to find that all of the CCTV in the area had mysteriously gone dark.

She fell to her knees, and the tablet toppled out of her trembling fingers, cracking on the ground. Felicity ripped the ski mask off of her face with barely restrained fury, the tears that had been brimming in her eyes spilling over until she was openly crying, sobs jerking her chest.

Oliver was gone. Taken by Darhk. She had failed to protect him.

She didn’t even notice that Diggle, Thea and Lance had come up behind her until Oliver’s little sister was kneeling beside her, drawing her into a tight embrace. Felicity wrapped her arms around her and hugged Thea helplessly.

“They took him,” she moaned into her shoulder. “Darhk _took him_.”

“We’ll get him back,” Thea said determinedly. “You’ll get him back, Felicity.”

Diggle’s hand rubbed circles on the blonde’s back supportively. “We will NOT rest until we have Oliver back safety.”

“I’ve already put an APB out,” Lance reassured, pulling his ski mask off carefully. “I’ve got the entire SCPD looking out for that van and any trace of the Ghosts and Darhk, sweetheart.”

“He was so close,” she whispered, drawing away from Thea. “God, he would have been totally fine if we hadn’t barged in there and - this is all my fault.”

“Our fault,” Thea corrected, looking as if she was drowning in guilt. “I ran in there without even thinking about it. It was me Ollie was protecting. He revealed himself to take down that Ghost because I wasn’t watching my own six properly.”

“Everybody needs to stop casting blame on themselves,” Diggle ordered, looking around at them as he pulled his helmet off. He looked devastated, making Felicity’s heart clench. “We need to focus on getting Oliver back. I’ll call Laurel and Team Flash in and tell them to meet us at the Lair. Felicity, think you could get some searches up and running?”

“None of my searches have been able to find any Ghosts before, you really think they’re going to help us out now?” she gritted out. She was getting frustrated, angling her own anger at herself outwards to the team. “We’re _blind_ , Dig! Damien Darhk has Oliver, are we are _BLIND_.”

“Satellites,” Thea suddenly realised. “We - we could try and use the satellites, right? All of them, all of them together?”

Felicity took a shuddering breath. That actually might work. So far, whenever she’d been searching for the Ghosts, she’d been relying on her own systems and occasionally the STAR Labs satellite. If she hacked all of the satellites around Earth and combined all of their power, using all of the cameras available to her, she was sure to find _something_. She’d never wanted to risk that before, though, because that would undoubtedly rile up the NSA, CIA and NASA. But this was for Oliver. “That’s - that’s a good idea.”

She swallowed, shakily standing and straightening her shoulders. She needed to be strong. She needed to be strong to find Oliver and get him back. “Okay, let’s get back to the Lair,” she ordered, forcing herself to sound collected and calm. “I need my set-up. We are rescuing Oliver from Darhk, whatever it takes.”

“Copy that, boss,” Diggle agreed, nodding.

They would not sleep, not stop looking, until they found Oliver and he was safe and back where he belonged, with the team in the Foundry, and back at Felicity’s side.

And Darhk? He was going to pay.

* * *

It was dark.

And cold.

So cold he couldn’t even feel his paws.

Oliver awakened slowly, his head pounding like a sledgehammer was being repeatedly rammed into his skull and four limbs weakly pushing at the confines of the black bag he had been shoved into. He must have passed out sometime after hyperventilating himself into a panic attack. The sharp smell of sewage and heavy metals made his muzzle wrinkle, and he blinked blearily in an attempt to rid himself of the fogginess that had overtaken his mind. The fabric of the bag was thin enough that, straining his eyes, he was able to peer through it ever so slightly.

He could feel his ARGUS and Bratva training kicking him. _Catalogue your surroundings, analyse where you are, and stay calm._ Judging by the height and distance everything was, he had been placed on some kind of desk or table in the middle of a dark, plain room. The thick smell and air density of it made him suspect a basement of some type. Breath stuttering and body shivering due to the cold, faint movement caught his sight, and he squirmed, trying to get to his paws weakly. 

Damien Darhk.

The fear that overtook him was overwhelming, making him gasp and shake. Before he could even properly react to the sight of the villain, the bag was seized roughly and opened, and he was shaken out of it, falling onto the floor with a thump. Pain shot through his paws and muscles, and immediately, on instinct, Oliver leapt upwards and dashed towards the nearest shaded area, terror overtaking him. He was grabbed by the scruff and raised into the air just ahead of reaching the shadows, and he yowled, flailing and trying to claw his attacker furiously.

_LET GO OF ME! LET GO! I WILL KILL YOU! LET ME GO!_

Darhk gazed down at him with a bored expression, but there was a curious glimmer in his gaze that made Oliver tremble. With the way the man was holding him by his scruff, he was vulnerable and helpless, and he couldn’t do anything in his own defence. His belly was exposed and although he tried to adjust his paws to cover the area, his limbs hung uselessly.

“Who would have thought,” Darhk commented dryly. “The Green Arrow, a dog person. You should have seen the reactions of his little team when I had you in my grasp. They were terrified. They must care for you a lot.” He examined the puppy with a disgusted expression. “Awful, dirty runt. I hate dogs. You ruined my shoes, whelp.”

_Well, they tasted horrible,_ Oliver bared his teeth back at him. _And your magic smells like rotten eggs._

It had been as much a surprise to Oliver as it had been to Darhk that the villain’s magic hadn’t worked on him. Which lead to the question - did Darhk’s magic only work on human beings? Did this mean that Team Arrow actually had an advantage for once, knew one of the man’s weaknesses?

When Darhk tried to examine the police collar still fastened around his neck, Oliver snapped at his fingers, but the man just hit him around the head. “Bad dog. You need to be taught a lesson of obedience and submission, I think.”

That sent chills up Oliver’s spine and he continued to whimper as he was carried over to a small cage, one that he would barely be able to stand in. Darhk flung him into it with an echoing, ominous laugh. Springing to his paws, and his ears laid flat against his skull, the husky gave a mighty snarl, warning, _I might be small, but I pack one HELL of a bite!_ The villain just rolled his eyes and rattled the cage, causing Oliver to bang against the sides and cover his head with his paws, alarmed.

One of the man’s Ghosts appeared, and Darhk ordered, “You know what to do. He’s the perfect bait for the Green Arrow. You can… play with him, but make sure he’s still in one piece. If the Green Arrow wants proof of life, we would need to provide a video of the mutt alive.” He leaned down, and the husky scrambled to the back of the cage, growling at the villain’s nasty grin. “Stick tight, puppy. You could be here for quite a while.”

Darhk moved away from him without another word, melting into the shadows, motioning with a flippant hand for the Ghost to leave. He was carried down the stairs to a lower level, and placed in the centre of the pitch-black room. It was even colder down here, and even with his thick pelt, he was shivering.

_This isn’t so bad,_ Oliver tried to convince himself. _Just sitting in the dark for a while. That’s okay. You’ve done that before. Felicity, John and Thea will find me, I won’t be here for -_

Icy cold water was cascaded over his head, and Oliver immediately panicked, the water drenching through his fur. He was instantly reminded of nearly drowning after the Queen’s Gambit and being water boarded by Waller, the sensation of the freezing water soaking his body sending him into a pitiful state, whimpering and crying out. He wanted Felicity. Before he could react, the cage went flying, with him inside it, into a wall, and the pain that struck his nerves at the collision made him yelp out in fear. Before he could regain his balance on his paws, the cage was kicked back into the entire of the room, and Oliver landed in a wet, trembling pile, his eyesight blurry and everything around him distorted. He flinched in anticipation of the next torment, but nothing happened.

The Ghost gave an eerie chuckle. “Goodnight, little puppy. We’ll get started on the _fun_ tomorrow.”

Psychological torture. That was what the Ghosts considered _fun_ , apparently. And they would probably deviate to physical torture before this was over.

Usually, he would be able to hold out. Oliver had managed to survive a week of torture before without breaking, and the only reason that it hadn’t been longer was that he’d escaped. Oliver knew exactly how psychological and physical torture worked, and ARGUS and the Bratva had trained him to withstand it.

But he was tired. And weak. And he had no emotional barriers to keep his darker, messier thoughts at bay, and his PTSD, depression and anxiety were crippling him. He was absolutely terrified, and he knew, just knew, that he wouldn’t be able to withstand torture. Not in this tiny, vulnerable weak form.

God, he wanted Felicity. She would know how to make him feel better. She would be searching for him, trying to track the Ghosts down, that was for certain. And he trusted that she would eventually find him. But he wanted her now. He would do anything to be snuggled up with her on the couch under a blanket right now. She made him strong.

He needed to be strong.

The human’s footsteps echoed on the concrete floor as he made his exit, and it was only once Oliver was left in complete and utter silence and darkness, soaking wet and freezing to the bone, stuck in a cage, that he allowed the first tear to fall, a pained, terrified whine escaping his throat.

He was alone. Cold. In the dark. Shaking with cold and fear.

He could only hope Felicity, his friends and his team would find him before it was too late.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading :) Hope you enjoyed! Please leave kudos or comment.
> 
> Tumblr: @alexiablackbriar13  
> Twitter: @lexiblackbriar


	8. ~ Part 8 ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand we're back for Part 8. A lot of people said they enjoyed Oliver's POV, so there is more of that this chapter :) Thanks once again for all your wonderful support, especially those of you who have reassured me as I focus on my other WIP fic, _Defend Not The Man, But The Mind_ , that it was okay for me to take a break from this one. 
> 
> **Trigger Warnings:** Torture involving burning.

* * *

* * *

“This is bad.”

“Yes, we know that, Cisco.”

“I mean, really, _really_ bad. A magical super villain has kidnapped puppy Oliver. Things couldn’t possibly get much worse than this.”

“Yes, _thank you, Cisco!_ ” Felicity snapped, slamming her hand down onto the counter, startling everybody else in the Lair. “We’re aware of all of that! Our focus at the moment is trying to find a way to get Oliver back.”

After returning to the Lair, wracked with nervous energy, Felicity had worked the entire night away. She’d been hacking satellites and desperately trying to track down Darhk and his Ghosts, hoping she would be able to pinpoint a location where they’d taken her boyfriend. She’d probably broken too many laws to count in the process, but she’d managed to get the access codes for numerous private satellites, including the NSA’s and Apple’s, whilst also using the Palmer Tech one available to her and ARGUS’ three satellites, which Lyla gave her the codes to. But even after hours of searching, Felicity found nothing. Even pairing up all of the satellite birds’ eye view footage with CCTV video didn’t result in anything. Without any tracker on Oliver, there was no telling where he could be. It was as if Darhk, the Ghosts and Oliver had vanished off the face of the planet. Felicity had never felt such a suffocating frustration before.

Laurel had joined the team around midnight. She, John and Thea had gone off into the city to try and get a trail on the streets, whilst Lance went back to the station to use his resources as a police captain to get as much information as he could. Diggle had called Team Flash for backup, but they were dealing with another Rogues mess, so could only join them in the early hours of the morning. Cisco immediately offered up the STAR Labs satellite for Felicity to use, and he and the blonde continued their searches as Barry and Caitlin mapped out all the possible routes that Darhk could have taken from the docks area. Now, everybody was gathered back in the Lair so updates could be shared on the situation.

Cisco looked offended at her sharp tone. When Diggle set a steady hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently, Felicity forced herself to exhale and relax her tense shoulders, pausing in her typing of code. “Sorry,” she gritted out. “I didn’t mean to snap. I’m a little anxious right now. It’s been a difficult night.”

“Nobody’s contesting that, sweetheart,” Lance smiled sympathetically.

Crossing her arms, Laurel suggested, “So first, I think we need to establish who’s in charge. John?”

“Felicity,” Diggle answered instantly. “She’s the one with all the plans. She knows what she’s doing here. Besides, I don’t think any of us would survive stepping in between her and getting Oliver back.”

The blonde swallowed, glancing around the group, but nobody seemed to disagree with this, all of them nodding.

“Alright. Felicity, you’re the alpha,” Caitlin said. “We’re here, and under your command. What do you want us to do?”

Swivelling around in her chair, she steepled her fingers together, thinking intensely. Her plan so far was relying on the cooperation of the entire team, and now that she knew that they were all content to take orders from her, Felicity could finally put it into action. “Our main priority now that the dirty bomb is out of Darhk’s hands is getting Oliver back. Barry, I want you sweeping the city,” she said firmly. “Top to bottom, if you can. Cisco, you can work with him and provide overwatch support from here; remember to check inside of basements, warehouses and bunkers as well.”

“On it,” Barry confirmed, pulling up his cowl and disappearing from the Lair with a flash of lightning. The strong draft of air that was caused by his speeding out made all of them wince away, but as soon as the speedster was gone, everybody focused back on Felicity.

“John, Thea,” Felicity turned to them. “I need you to return to the docks where we found Darhk and the Ghosts last night. Search that warehouse top to bottom, and if you find any soil residue or fabric scraps, collect them and bring them back. They might have left a clue there that we missed. Caitlin, do you mind going with Laurel to check out all of the locations where we’ve confronted Ghosts over the last few months? We haven’t been able to find a correlation yet, but there might be some connection that we haven’t made.”

Caitlin nodded, glancing over at Laurel, who smiled at her warmly. “Sure, we can do that.”

“Where do you want me, Miss Smoak?” Lance questioned from the side. “There isn’t much more I can help with when it comes to police support. SCPD’s so overstretched and under-resourced, we’re struggling catching petty thieves right now.”

Gnawing on her lip nervously, Felicity kept her voice low as she asked, “Can I speak with you privately for a minute?”

Lance didn’t look surprised. “Sure.”

“We’ll head out,” Diggle announced. “Thea and I will take the bikes so you and Caitlin can take the van, Laurel.”

Felicity shot him an appreciative look, knowing that he was clearing the room so that Lance could talk to her about Darhk without having to tell Laurel he was working for him. Whilst everybody filed off down the stairs, exiting the platform and heading for the garage area, Cisco grabbed a wheeley chair and zipped over to the other side to begin linking up comms and the STAR Labs tech they used to track and monitor the Flash. Lance ran a hand over his head with a grimace as he strode closer towards the blonde, leaning against the railing.

“Let me guess,” he said dryly. “You want me to try and set up a meeting with Darhk.”

“To be honest, I think you’re our best chance at the moment of getting a location on Oliver,” Felicity admitted. “It’s unlikely Darhk will be keeping him at that office place he uses with you, but if you’re able to arrange a meeting with him, we can have Barry watching and tracking him. The Ghosts may be able to disappear because they’re faster than us, but I doubt they’re quicker than the Flash.” Seeing Lance’s wary and somewhat reluctant expression, Felicity reached out to take hold of and squeeze one of his hands. “I know I’m asking a lot of you, Captain, but… please. This is Oliver’s life we’re talking about.”

“Felicity, I’ll do it. No question about it,” Lance said, tone determined. “I just need to know whether or not you want me to risk my role as your undercover agent in Darhk’s operation to get Oliver out of there as quickly as possible.”

“Not if it puts your life in danger.”

Lance jerked his head in a nod, moving off from the platform, although pausing just for a moment to call her name softly. He aimed a reassuring look at her, and Felicity managed a small smile when he assured, “We’ll find him, Felicity. Oliver’s going to be okay.”

“I hope so,” she whispered.

That uncontrollable fury she felt at the moment just thinking about that tiny husky puppy being hurt was overwhelming. She had no idea how she would react and what she would do in retaliation if Oliver was harmed in any way.

* * *

A horrified yelp escaped the husky puppy’s throat when he was jolted awake from his restless slumber by another bucket of freezing cold water being dumped on top of the cage, soaking his pelt. Shivering, Oliver staggered to his paws and snarled as fiercely as possible, ears pricked forwards aggressively and tail erect, but the Ghost that held the bucket just laughed and left the room.

At least throughout the night, they’d left him in peace. Sleep deprivation didn’t seem to be a form of torture the Ghosts were going to use on him, which was good, because he was already exhausted. Stretching out his aching body, Oliver tried to examine himself carefully for any injuries. He’d grown overnight again. From what he could tell, he was a few inches taller, and his fur had smoothed out slightly, puppy fat fading away. He was sleeker. Stronger. Hopefully that would help him withstand the horrors that Darhk and his Ghosts most likely had planned for him. 

The door to the dank, dark room opened again and Oliver scrambled to the back of the cage with a fierce growl, ears flattened to his skull and teeth bared. If Oliver had been a full size husky, it would have been intimidating. But as a puppy, it probably looked ridiculous. The Ghost ignored his aggression, instead unlocking the cage door, outstretching his arm and trying to grab the police collar around his neck to drag him out.

_Well you can fuck off!_

Oliver lanced forwards and sank sharp tiny canines into the Ghost’s wrist. The man shouted out, on instinct yanking his arm out of the cage, but because the husky kept his fangs very firmly settled in the man’s flash, Oliver was jerked out of the structure as well. As soon as he was free from the metal bars, the puppy released and dropped to the ground, managing to land on all four paws and scamper desperately for the open door. Freedom was in sight.

Just as he reached the doorway, he was grabbed roughly by the collar and lifted into the air. Yowling, Oliver tried to squirm and wiggle out of the collar, but it wasn’t loose enough to slip off his neck, and instead he almost found himself choking because of it, black spots dancing in his vision. The Ghost that was now holding him changed his grip just in time, switching to holding him around his middle.

“What happened?” the Ghost that was holding him asked incredulously.

Ghost No. 1, the one whom Oliver had bitten, stood up with a scowl, holding his bleeding arm gingerly. “Fucking bit me!”

“What did you expect? It’s the Green Arrow’s dog. It’s bound to be some sort of ninja puppy.”

“Just give that little shit some water and then we can have some fun with it. We hardly get to do anything fun around here anymore since the Green Arrow started targeting us.”

The door of the room was kicked shut, and Oliver’s heart sank. Well, there went his chance of escape. To his surprise, the Ghost lowered him to the ground gently, drawing back quietly when Oliver whipped around to snarl at him. He scuttled off into one of the corners, slinking into the shadows. Maybe if they couldn’t see him and thought it too much of an effort, they would leave him alone? Wishful thinking, but he was already shaking and trembling, desperately wanting Felicity to comfort him. A plastic bowl was placed on the floor and the less grumpy Ghost, the one he didn’t bite, unscrewed a sealed, new bottle to pour some water down into it. Watching them warily, tail flicking behind him, the husky narrowed his eyes when the Ghost stepped back and shot an expectant look at him.

They wanted Oliver to drink the water. He was parched, but he wasn’t stupid. Ghost Number 1 had said very clearly that as soon as he finished drinking some water, they were going to ‘have fun’ with him. Meaning, they were going to beat and kick the crap out of him. Sure, the bottle had been sealed, so Oliver knew that it wasn’t drugged with anything, but the puppy wasn’t going to go and drink that water when he knew that as soon as he did, the torture would start. Plonking down onto his behind, ears pricking forwards assertively, Oliver pointedly averted his gaze from them, sniffing.

“What’s wrong with it? Why isn’t it drinking?”

“Heck if I know. Bring it over here.”

Ghost Number 1 stormed over, extending his hands to snatch Oliver up, and the puppy saw red. As soon as the hands were within a metre’s reach, he ducked under them and snapped his jaws around the Ghost’s ankle. The man cried out in pain and kicked, and although Oliver went flying into the wall, it wasn’t a particularly bad impact. He pulled himself to his paws, licking the blood off his canines with a grimace, and trotted back into his corner, tail and head held high. He uttered another snarl as the Ghost hopped around, yelling angrily as blood now flowed from both his leg and his arm.

_And that’s why you don’t mess with Oliver Queen._ That would teach them to pick him up without his permission.

“Little fucker!” Ghost No.1 shouted. “Why do we have to wait until it drinks some water? I want to knock its head against the wall right now!”

“Darhk wants it alive, asshole,” Ghost No.2 hissed. He knelt down and dipped his fingers into the water, trying to coax Oliver over. “Come on, mutt. Come and drink some water. We’re going to play around with us after. Doesn’t that sound good?”

_I’m not a mutt, Oliver growled. And no, that doesn’t ‘sound good’. I reckon my idea of what playing is does NOT line up with yours._

But he really was thirsty, and he needed water if he wanted to keep his strength up and not weaken from dehydration. They were going to torture and beat him away - Oliver might as well drink his fill of water first. Slinking forwards warily, shoulders hunched, the puppy paused in front of the bowl and lowered his head. Beginning to lap quietly and carefully at the water, he made sure that he drank slowly and surely; this was the best way to quench thirst and increase his hydration. This way, when he was hurt, he would be less likely to throw all the water up.

The moment that Oliver lifted his head, licking his lips, he was scooped up from the floor and carried out of the room once again by his scruff, and he whimpered instinctively, attempting to cover up his exposed belly. The torture was going to begin.

_Stay strong_ , he told himself. _Stay strong. Resist. Fight. Do it for Felicity._

He tried to catalogue his surroundings as he was carried, but the maze of dark, dimly lit corridors just made him dizzy, rubbing at his eyes with a whine. The two Ghosts were bickering, swearing at each other violently, and the one holding Oliver jerked him around violently, not caring about the puppy’s comfort. Squirming didn’t do any good, instead just getting Oliver boxed over the head painfully, and his fearful whines grew louder, resulting in them hitting him around the head again.

“Lookie here, boys,” Ghost Number 1 called out, as they entered a larger chamber that looked to be a communal area of sorts. Other Ghosts were sitting around, cleaning their weapons and adjusting their body armour. They all still had their ski masks on, none of their faces visible. “We got ourselves a toy for the next few hours.”

The ripple of glee that swept through the Ghosts unsettled the puppy, and Oliver found himself trying to curl up as small as possible, despite the fact that the man’s hold on his scruff didn’t allow him to fully. He was dumped unceremoniously on a metal table, and Oliver leapt for an escape, but hands grabbed him roughly and held him in place, not even twitching or flinching when he arched his head and bit at the fingers with a snarl. 

“Darhk wants it alive, doesn’t care what else we do to it,” Ghost Number 1 said, the hint of malicious excitement in his voice causing Oliver to shudder. “Little shit has already bitten me twice. Let’s make it squirm. Somebody got a lighter?”

Oliver began trembling. They were going to burn him. He’d experienced the sting of fire before as a form of torture - his entire lower back was covered in second degree burn scars. As a puppy, however, he wouldn’t be able to withstand that level of pain. His mind wasn’t going to be able to cope with keeping up those mental barriers of protection for long enough. This was going to be agonising - and he had no idea how he was going to make it through.

_Felicity is my strength. Just think of Felicity. Nothing else. Felicity is my strength, and my memories of her, of us together, our happiness, will get me through this._

The naked flame of the lighter hovered just over his shoulder, the uncomfortable, scalding heat from it radiating and penetrating his fur. Oliver was determined not to show weakness by shaking as the Ghosts forced his legs and paws out from underneath him, jeering and laughing as he was pinned to the table. He stared straight ahead, breathing raspy and rapid as he slipped into panic mode, an anxiety attack coming on as memories of being electrocuted on the Amazo and burnt by Kovar flashed through his mind.

Shaking himself agitatedly, Oliver focused on a particularly powerful memory of Felicity. The blonde tossing her loose hair behind her shoulder as she laughed at a comment Oliver made in _Bed Bath and Beyond_ about the necessity of green towels. It filled him with fortitude and spirit, the way that only Felicity’s light could. The puppy couldn’t see the flame lowering, but he could feel it, that scorching feeling growing stronger and bolder, and he braced himself.

That savage, red-hot lighter flame seared into the fur and skin on his shoulder and Oliver yowled, his nerves screaming and making him struggle desperately, the severe discomfort overwhelming.

_Felicity, stroking down his bare back with a wet cloth and soothing him after a night terror, taking extra care to swipe over his scars, pressing gentle kisses along his jaw with whispered promises of love and care._

They moved the lighter down to his hind paw, and the puppy wrenched himself away with a horrific, agonised howl.

_Felicity, accompanying him to the tattoo-removal salon for every single appointment and holding his hand the entire time, crying as he cried, refusing to allow him to go through the pain of having a triggering tattoo removed alone._

To his underbelly, where they danced the flame over his fur to spell out something, although the pain was so blinding that Oliver had no idea what, just freely crying and screaming.

_Felicity, stealing a passionate kiss from him at the back of Walmart, enticing him into wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close to deepen it further, the mint chip ice cream dropping, forgotten, to the floor._

“Alright, that’s enough. Boss’ll get pissed if we burn it up too - what the hell? Is it bigger?”

The lighter was pulled away, and although Oliver was disorientated from the pain, the burns still throbbing and tingling grievously, he was lucid enough to understand the Ghost’s disbelieving statement and for terror to strike through him. Caitlin had said that extreme stress could trigger the mechanism that caused him to grow. Due to the agony of the torture, had the puppy grown even bigger? Had he just not noticed the growing pains because the burns were already stimulating his nerves too much?

Stifling his whimpers at the back of his throat, Oliver flinched as he was grappled by the scruff and raised into the air for inspection by one of the Ghosts - and promptly dropped down again, due to being too heavy. He’d _definitely_ grown. “What the _fuck!?_ It grew, like, two months in two minutes!”

There was a resounding, stunned silence, and then Ghost Number 1 muttered, “I’m gonna call the boss. He’s going to want to take a look at it. It’s that magic mojo shit again, I’m telling you. Mutt was resistant to the boss’ yesterday, might have something to do with that.”

“What are we gonna do with it meanwhile? It’s too big now to put in that cage.”

“Get some rope and tie it up or something, I don’t know.”

Arms lifted Oliver up from the table, this time from underneath his belly, making him wince and whimper as the hands brushed against the burns there. A thick piece of polyester rope was tied on the police collar before he was lowered to the ground, tied off to a water pipe in the corner. The Ghost that secured the rope gave him a little mocking pat on the head, chuckling when the husky jerked way with a growl and then released a scared noise. Finally, Oliver was able to rest. He flopped onto his side, panting and squeezing his eyes shut as the action sent tendrils of pain flaring through his limbs, the burns throbbing. He was exhausted, physically and emotionally. He was drowning in mental pain, still fighting off flashbacks of his five years away. Thinking about Felicity helped, but he was too tired to stay awake.

He’d withstood the torture. He’d been terrified that he wouldn’t, but he’d fought through it. Now, he wasn’t frightened and scared.

Oliver was _furious._

He was going to tear those Ghosts apart. He was utterly disgusted by them; the fact that they enjoyed tormenting a puppy with no remorse or reservations made his stomach churn. Vibrating with anger, the husky puppy placed his head on his paws and rumbled lowly, bleary eyes fixated on the men that had now gone back to maintaining their guns, all looking put out that their entertainment had finished. The Ghost that had operated the lighter was still flicking it open, blinking at the flame in fascination, repeating that motion several times over. These men were _sick_. Oliver wanted nothing more but to shoot arrows into all of them.

_As soon as I’m back in human form, I’m putting you all down. Whether or not that’s permanently, is still up for debate. I’ll talk to John and Felicity about it. They’re sure to have opinions after they see what you did to me._

“Darhk wants the puppy,” a Ghost announced, stepping into the room. “Shit, what did you guys do to it?”

“Boss said we could play with it.”

“Yeah, he also said he wanted it in one piece. That don’t look like one piece.”

“It’s still got all limbs attached, hasn’t it? Ipso facto, it’s in one piece.”

“Why does it look like it’s bigger?”

“‘Cause it is. Just take the mutt out of here. Careful, apparently it’s got quite the bite.”

They tried to make him walk at first, yanking at the rope, but Oliver was limping too badly and was too weak physically to be lead along at a pace that the Ghost was satisfied with. In the end, the Ghost just grabbed at him and picked him up, grumbling under his breath as he held the husky as far away from himself as possible to avoid getting bitten or scratched, since Oliver was not in a very happy mood. Once again, too many turns and the maze-like corridors meant that the puppy lost track of where they were going. This was definitely an area he hadn’t been to before. The Ghost knocked on a door, waiting for a moment to be called in before entering, placing the husky on the ground as he did so and jerking the rope to wrench him forwards.

Darhk stood from where he was seated behind a lavish mahogany desk, saying breezily to his visitor, “Excuse me for the moment.”

He strode towards them with all the air of a victorious dictator, and Oliver hunched, growling ferociously as he pulled against the rope keeping him in place. Darhk’s magic still stunk, making the husky puppy wrinkle his muzzle in distaste; the man’s irritated, yet somewhat intrigued expression as the puppy’s ears went back and he crouched in preparation to lash out and bite, chilled Oliver to the bone, causing him to emit a wary whimper.

“What’s going on?” an annoyed voice asked, and Oliver froze, wanting to howl out in joy.

It was Lance.

The police captain’s eyes widened at the sight of him but he managed to school an impassive expression, and likewise it took an immense effort on Oliver’s part to physically stop himself from beginning to wiggle his body and wag his tail excitedly at the sight of the man. Now that Lance knew he was here, there was a very high probability of rescue. He would undoubtedly inform Felicity and the team, and Oliver would be saved. The puppy almost trembled trying to keep himself completely still, so when Darhk reached down to touch him, all of that restrained energy exploded out and Oliver darted forwards, snapping fiercely. He missed the super villain’s fingertips by half and inch, and for his trouble, ended up being kicked viciously so that he hit the wall with a pained yelp.

Lance looked as if he was struggling to stop himself from running forwards to halt the assault, so Oliver shot him a warning, serious look, shaking his head. The police captain swallowed, but stayed in place.

“S’that a puppy?” the captain questioned, voice flat.

“Congratulations, Mr Lance,” Darhk said sarcastically. “You successfully managed to identify the species of the runt.” He shot a glare at the Ghost. “You can go.”

The Ghost departed quickly, leaving the three of them alone in what appeared to be Darhk’s office. Oliver struggled to his paws with a whimper, jostling the burns as he tried to scamper underneath the super villain’s desk. Darhk let him, watching him hide with a sneer. He didn’t seem to care about Oliver walking around loose in his office, probably because he knew that he was the one with all the power here.

“Why’s the little guy’s fur all singed?” Lance questioned. He managed to conceal the horror and upset in his tone at seeing Oliver so roughed up, but some disgust leaked through, enough so that Darhk aimed a suspicious glance his way.

“I allowed my men some play time with him,” Darhk smiled sadistically. He narrowed his eyes down at the captain, and Oliver’s heart skipped a beat. Lance shifted in his seat somewhat nervously. “You wouldn’t know who the mutt belongs to, would you? He has a police collar.”

“No idea,” Lance replied, keeping his voice light and uninterested.

Darhk nodded. “Interesting,” he said slowly. “Because one of my Ghosts could have sworn that he spotted you with a husky puppy just like this one out in the dog park the other day.”

Shit. Busted. Oliver tensed, but Lance didn’t seem worried. He kept his cool as he answered nonchalantly, “Well, that was a police puppy in training. This one doesn’t look like a puppy, does he? He must be nearly fully grown.”

_Very nice save_ , Oliver smirked. Using the puppy’s rapid growing factor to his advantage, Lance had just successfully navigated himself out of a dangerous situation, if Darhk’s careless shrug as he sat back down was anything to go by. His gaze was dragged, however, away from Darhk and to Lance when the captain dropped his hand down to dangle at his side. It looked like a casual movement, but then he flashed his palm towards Oliver - and there was a small, white, pill-like object cradled within it.

A tracking device.

Oh, Felicity was good. Oliver remembered her making these, crafting them with the help of Cisco and an ARGUS tech. They were self-powered and satellite accessible, could be remotely traced. They’d specifically been designed so that they could be picked up anywhere, through anything. The signal released was nearly twice as powerful as gamma radiation. She must have given it to Lance in hope that he’d be able to lead the team to Darhk and his Ghosts’ secure location.

From the way Lance was flicking his wrist subtly, he obviously wanted Oliver to dart forwards and take it.

“No, he doesn’t look like a puppy,” Darhk replied, zeroing in his gaze onto the puppy. Oliver stared back at him defiantly, blue eyes shining as he snarled. “Although that is somewhat of a mystery, as when we picked him up last night, he was two thirds that size.” Turning back towards Lance, he continued dispassionately, “So what _favour_ do you need this time, _Quentin_?”

“I have information for you,” Lance responded. “In exchange for information back.”

“This better be worth my while.”

“There are rumours,” Lance said, “That the Green Arrow and the Hood from around four years ago, are one in the same.”

Darhk’s expression didn’t change, remaining indifferent. “The Hood was caught, Captain. Roy Harper died in prison only last year.”

“No, Roy Harper was the _Arrow_ ,” Lance emphasised. “There have been three archer vigilantes working in Starling over the last half a decade - the Hood, the Arrow, and the Green Arrow. Just because they use the same weapon doesn’t mean they’re the same person. If you remember, the Hood vanished after the Undertaking for around five months, and then the Arrow turned up, different tactics, different mission.”

There was a faint spark of interest in Darhk’s eyes now. Lance had him hooked on his words, enough so that Oliver felt brave enough to creep forwards, quietly snatch the white pill from his hand - and swallow it. It would remain in his body long enough for Felicity and the team to get a hit on his location. He slunk back into the shadows of under Darhk’s desk with a quiet, appreciative huff. Lance very swiftly toed him affectionately in the side with his shoe.

“They obviously weren’t the same person. But now, this Green Arrow turns up - and there’s talk in the streets, in the Glades, that this might be the Hood guy.”

Darhk stared back at him for a moment, before saying in a monotone, bored voice, “Is that all?”

Lance inhaled sharply. He offered hesitantly, “There’s suggestion that the Green Arrow was trained by Ra’s Al Ghul, the leader of the League of Assassins.”

Now _that_ caused Darhk to sit up straighter. He looked as if he was actually paying attention to the captain’s words. Oliver was impressed. Lance had given the super villain information based on truth, that didn’t reveal too much of their operation, but still intrigued him enough to consider it valuable. “Thank you for the information. What kind of intel do you need?”

“I need to know what kind of program you’re using to block the satellites from tracking you.” Very obviously a question posed by Felicity.

“And why exactly do you need to know that, Mr Lance?”

“ARGUS think they’ve got a hit on what coding you’re using to hide the Ghosts,” Lance lied. He was so convincing that for a brief moment, Oliver thought it was true. “I need to know what program I should direct them away from.”

The super villain’s expression darkened. “Let me handle ARGUS, Mr Lance. You just continue ordering around your useless little police department and prancing around to help out the Green Arrow and his merry men.” He stood, smoothing down his jacket. “We’re done here,” he said firmly.

Lance must have been able to tell he wasn’t welcome anymore, because he quickly stood, thanked Darhk for his time and made his exit. He cast one last devastated, worried look the husky puppy’s way as he left, biting his lip, but Oliver shot him a reassuring glance, nodding his head that he should go, before Darhk thought that the captain was becoming too much of a nuisance sticking around.

He’d swallowed the tracker. Lance could leave knowing that he’d done his part in aiding in Oliver’s rescue. Felicity was coming for him, and Oliver knew instinctively that she’d be coming with a vengeance. His girlfriend was not somebody you wanted to piss off, and Oliver imagined that she was very, very pissed off that the Ghosts had kidnapped him as a puppy. Felicity wasn’t overly protective; that was his role in their relationship, but when she wanted to be, and when she needed to be, she could be fierce as hell. You didn’t want to get on the blonde’s bad side, and Darhk and the Ghosts were going to be in for it.

Oliver was so distracted for a split second thinking about Felicity that he didn’t notice Darhk bending down next to him until the man’s foot came kicking into his side. Oliver cried out as he was booted out from beneath the desk, his injuries throbbing and making him light headed, and therefore panicked. His anxiety rocketed as he blinked up dazedly and saw the super villain looming over him, evil grin plastered to his face. Leaping to his paws, the husky puppy desperately attempted to make for the door, but then Darhk’s disgusting hands were wrapped around his belly and Oliver was trying to wrestle his way out of his tight grip with a screech.

“Now,” Darhk said, terrifyingly calm. “You, little whelp, are apparently resistant to my magic. You also somehow grew two months in the space of five minutes, according to my Ghosts.” His wicked smile widened and Oliver shuddered, beginning to shake in the man’s grip as he realised that the burns, the torture at the hands of the Ghosts, were only the start of the pain he was going to experience here. “Let’s do some experiments, shall we?”

* * *

“HE WAS THERE!” Lance shouted, sprinting out of the Lair’s elevator and skidding into the railing as he came to a halt, startling Felicity out of her cross referencing all of the known Ghost attacks and their encounters with them. “Felicity, Oliver was there! I saw him! Darhk had him in the office!”

“Oh my god,” she whispered, jumping to her feet and running over to him. They pretty much crashed into each other at the top of the stairs to the computer platform, Lance bracing her arms. “Is he alright?! Did they hurt him?!”

Lance’s exhilarated expression dropped into one of anguish. “Oh, sweetheart -”

He was interrupted by Barry flashing in with a burst of lightning, slightly out of breath. “Man, how the hell you got down here faster than I did when _I’m_ the one with super speed who gave you a lift, I’ll never know.”

“Took the elevator,” Lance deadpanned.

“... Yeah, that actually makes sense.”

“Quentin!” Felicity said urgently, snapping the captain’s away from the speedster and back to her. “Oliver? Is he okay?”

His look of despair returned. “I don’t know, Felicity. He - he had these burnt patches all over his body. Darhk said - he said he let his Ghosts have a play around with him, and I don’t think by ‘play’, they mean with a tennis ball.”

“They tortured him.” Her eyes filled with tears. Oh, her poor Oliver. She knew he was strong, strong enough to withstand torture, survive the trauma of it physically, but mentally? When he was so emotionally vulnerable? She was devastated. She’d failed to protect him when he was most helpless, in his puppy form. Her Oliver was going through a world of pain. “Oh _god_.”

“He seemed stable,” Lance was quick to reassure her. “Emotionally, that is. Even tried to take a bite out of Darhk. Oliver’s resilient, sweetheart, he’ll make it through this intact.” She tried to break away from his grip to get back to her seat, legs feeling wobbly as images of that tiny husky puppy whimpering in pain assaulted her mind, but Lance tightened his grip on her arm. “Felicity, he’s got my tracker.”

Cisco perked up, swivelling around from the workstation across from her where he’d been quietly discussing something with Barry. “The little white one like a pill?” he asked excitedly.

“Yeah, yeah, the tracker you gave me, that little white thing - Oliver swallowed it. He’s got the tracker!”

Hope flared in her heart. If Oliver had the specially developed tracker - then they could pinpoint his location, right now, right here. “Quentin, I could _kiss you_!” Felicity yanked herself away as she realised what she’d just said. “I mean - platonically. In a father-daughter way. Not in the way I’d kiss Oliver.”

Thankfully, he ignored her babble, used to it by now, although his lips did tick upwards in a slight fond smile. “Does this mean you can locate him?” Lance questioned, following her as she collapsed back into her chair and threw herself at the monitors, typing fast.

Cisco came up behind them, Barry at his side. “It means that we know exactly where he is, real time, and there’s no way that Darhk and the Ghosts can block the signal. We’ve got him, baby!”

“Don’t ever say that again,” Barry said. “Felicity, does this mean we can launch an infiltration?”

“We’re rescuing him as quickly as possible. He’s not staying within Darhk’s grasp for any longer than necessary,” she said fiercely. She finished her coding and with a ping - there it was, a tiny blue dot on a map of Starling, blinking to show it was live. That was where Oliver was. “There he is!”

“I’ll go and pick up the others,” Barry said, before vanishing in a flash of yellow lightning.

Felicity logged onto the comms, her heartbeat thrumming in her chest, adrenalin coursing through her bloodstream as excitement, hope and a fierce desperation to get Oliver back flooded her system. “Guys, we have a location on Oliver,” she announced triumphantly. “We’re storming the castle and getting him back. Tonight.”

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave kudos and comment :)
> 
> Twitter: @lexiblackbriar  
> Tumblr: @alexiablackbriar13


	9. ~ Part 9 ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are at the penultimate chapter! I hope you enjoy, and thank you so much to everybody who has supported me so far. I really appreciate it your patience, kind comments and encouragement!

* * *

Oliver shuddered.

Four hours.

For four hours, he’d been stuck with Darhk, being experimented on and thrown around by magical means, slammed into walls and jerked about violently on the floor. For four hours, he’d had his puppy body stretched and contorted into shapes and positions by invisible forces. He’d almost had his spine snapped multiple times.

For four hours, he’d been tortured, and Oliver was _broken_.

He was ashamed of how he’d mentally snapped after a mere _beating_. Oliver had suffered through far worse at the hands of both ARGUS and the Bratva. He wasn’t even that badly injured - his ARGUS handler and the Bratva initiators had roughed him up far worse in the past. He had not been a puppy back then, however. He’d trained himself into a warrior and built up his mental barriers so he could withstand any sort of pain, but in puppy form, he was horrifically vulnerable, physically and mentally.

Oliver started crying around the three quarters of an hour mark of Darhk’s experimentation. It was approximately around this time that the realisation was made that although Darhk’s magic couldn’t affect Oliver directly in his puppy form… the super villain could still generate forces and manipulate the elements around the husky to torment him. The man tore off his collar and rope, but Darhk began to shove him into walls using excessive force. Darhk whipped Oliver up into the air in a mini tornado, deprived him of oxygen, and tossed him repeatedly across the room using magical energy, as if Oliver was nothing more than a rag doll.

The only reprieve the puppy got from this treatment was when Oliver became so dizzy, so physically ill from the abuse, that he threw up onto Darhk’s shoes. The super villain scoffed in disgust and kicked the puppy across the office, marching out and slamming the door behind him. Oliver could vaguely hear him shouting at one of the Ghosts to clean up the mess ‘the mongrel’ created on his floor.

Now, he was curled up into a trembling, whimpering ball behind the trashcan underneath Darhk’s desk. His entire body ached, and he felt too exhausted to even lift his head. The last time Oliver had felt this fractured was when he’d had to fend off seagulls from his father’s rotting corpse on Lian Yu’s dreary beach.

 _The team are coming for me_ , he tried to convince himself, but he released a sob, eyes squeezing shut. _Felicity’s coming for me. She’ll rescue me._

But would they? Lance would have told Team Arrow where he was and the tiny tracker Oliver had swallowed would lead them to his location, but how much longer would Oliver have to withstand this hell for? He could be trapped with Darhk and his Ghosts for another four hours - and who knew what they could, and would, do to him, during that time? Darhk certainly had not been exaggerating when he’d said he despised dogs. Oliver had felt the brunt of the super villain’s hatred.

Shivering, Oliver struggled to raise his head to feebly scrape his dry tongue over his burnt fur. It stung when he licked over the cuts and bruises littering his skin, but the need to clean himself, feeling so _dirty_ after being handled so aggressively by Darhk and the Ghosts, was strong enough that the puppy pushed forwards.

_Please let Felicity and the team rescue me soon._

_I don’t know how much longer I can cope with this._

_I’m scared._

The lights flickered. Oliver glanced up weakly.

For a moment, nothing else seemed to happen, but then, the lights flickered again, before completely going out. Huh. Maybe it was a fuse or something. Sniffling, ears flicking back and forth, Oliver slowly lowered his head back to his paws. He exhaled shakily; maybe attempting to get a lick of sleep would be a good idea. He didn’t know when Darhk or his Ghosts were returning; they could come back in five minutes, or they could leave him alone for an hour. The puppy had to take every minute as it came; he was tired in every single possible way, so taking a quick nap would be worth it.

Oliver had just succeeded in sinking into that floating state that accompanied the early stages of sleep, when he was startled awake by the indistinct, far-away sound of an explosion. The sound set his nerves alight, adrenalin causing him to leap to his paws and begin trembling much more vigorously. Sniffing cautiously, the husky puppy crept out from under the desk. His ears were swivelling to catch every tiny noise, his tail tucked beneath his shaking legs. His movements were still slow due to his pain, but the adrenalin was quite rapidly washing that away, leaving him alert and wary.

What sounded like an intercom crackled to life. The static hurt Oliver’s ears, and he went still, frozen with fear as he listened carefully for a moment. His breathing was laboured, coming out in pants as his anxiety took over. It was because of that uneasiness that when the voice came through on the intercom, Oliver yelped loudly and scuttled back underneath the desk, cowering.

“ _You’ve messed with the wrong people, Mr Damien Darhk,_ ” a deep, modulated voice echoed, presumably throughout the entire building. Oliver’s eyes widened. Even with the distortion - he _recognised_ that voice. It was Felicity. And she sounded very, very pissed off. “ _Justice is truth in action. And know this is the truth, Darhk, and this is also a promise - you will pay for what you have done, in blood, sweat and tears. I’ve infiltrated your system and shut down your defences - which were dismal, might I just add - and you should prepare yourselves. You’re about to get some very angry visitors._ ”

The intercom cut off, immediately followed by an alarm starting to blare deafeningly. Oliver wanted to cover his head with his paws, but instead he forced himself to run out from under the desk and get to the door, barking and howling ferociously. He could hear his blood pounding in his ears, heart rate through the roof. Felicity had come for him. The team were going to rescue him.

Hopefully, he’d attract somebody’s attention and they’d open the door - because there was absolutely no chance Oliver wasn’t going to join this fight. Sure, he was exhausted and injured, but he had a list of Ghosts and a particular super villain to sink his canines into. Oliver refused to leave the building without drawing their blood. As Felicity said - they were going to pay for their actions.

For nearly five minutes, Oliver yowled and barked, claws ferociously scratching at the door as he tried to attract attention, to no avail. When that failed, he backed up and slammed himself into it. The resounding force knocked him out for a brief second, and when Oliver awoke again, he found himself in a haze of pain. There was fire spreading in his veins, filling every part of his body, and his angry howl transformed into a roar of agony, limbs flailing as he fell to the floor and writhed. This was not normal pain. This was not aftershocks from his torture at the hands of Darhk and the Ghosts.

This was growth.

When Oliver finally regained enough strength and steadiness to stand, the first thing he noticed was that he physically felt more robust; his form was stockier and his muscles were well toned, rippling underneath streaky black and dark grey fur. He shook himself out, lifting a paw to glance down at himself, blue eyes blinking curiously as the puppy released a low sound. He’d grown fully into his paws, and he flexed his claws, growling when they scratched over the floor, significantly sharper than they had been before. Considering his size before this recent growth, Oliver would take a guess that he was now an almost full grown husky, nearing the nine months to a year mark.

He rumbled; his vocal chords had developed properly, his throat now able to draw out a snarl and howl without breaking half way through. Rolling his shoulders back and swishing his tail, Oliver raised his head; he felt _powerful_. He was no longer a tiny, vulnerable husky puppy; he was a proper dog, an ancestor of the mighty wolf, and he was big enough, tough enough, to take on Darhk and the Ghosts.

A visible flash of yellow lightning he caught sight of very faintly through the crack under the door caused Oliver’s head to snap up, and he sank into a crouch, hackles rising. A fierce snarl erupted from his chest, echoing threateningly; he’d started to sound like a wolf before, but now he had the body to accompany it.

The doorknob vibrated, shaking the entire door, signifying to Oliver that he needed to back up for his own safety. With a crash, the door flying out of its frame and sliding to the opposite side of the office, the Flash appeared. The speedster coughed and spluttered due to the updraft of dust his actions created, giving the husky enough time to creep forwards, ears pricked and nose twitching.

Barry tugged off his cowl, overjoyed grin splitting his face. “Oliver!”

Elation rushed through the archer, and with an excited yip, he bounded towards the speedster, slamming into his legs and bowling him over. Barry hit the ground with an “Oof!”, but very quickly started laughing heartedly as Oliver jumped on top of him, over-enthusiastic dog instincts prompting the pup to lick at Barry’s face eagerly. It was only when the speedster gave him a light shove that Oliver snapped back into his normal mind-set and scrambled off him, ears flattening to his skull sheepishly.

“They weren’t kidding when they said you’d grown,” Barry muttered, ruffling the husky’s scruff affectionately. “Look, Felicity ordered me to get you outta here as quickly as possible, so I’m gonna need to pick you up and carry you - Hey!” Barry hissed, yanking his hand to his chest when Oliver growled and nipped angrily at his fingers. “What, you want to stay here?” Oliver nodded fiercely. “Felicity isn’t going to be happy.” The puppy glared at him, lips drawing back in a snarl. “Fine! Fine, you can stay here and help. Just - try and avoid Thea and Cisco if you can, they’re going a little bit crazy with the explosives.”

That, sadly, did not surprise Oliver at all. His little sister always did have a bit of a flare for dramatics. Her over-usage of flash-bang arrows should’ve alerted him earlier to her fondness of blowing things up. Barry knelt, opening his arms out for the husky to clamber into, but because of his size, the speedster now struggled to pick him up, having to instead lift him by scooping under his legs and cradling the puppy to his chest. Oliver gently nipped at his collarbone with a huff when Barry clutched onto him too tightly.

So far, there had never been an occasion where transport by speedster hadn’t caused the archer to nearly throw up from nausea caused by the Speed Force, and it seemed today, there were no exceptions. By the time the yellow lightning fizzed out as Barry skidded to a halt, Oliver pretty much kicked him in the chest in his desperation to jump down so he could dry heave. They were standing in the middle of an obscure, dark corridor, presumably near to where the battle between Team Arrow and the Ghosts were taking place, as the fighting and sound of explosions was much louder and clearer than before.

Barry winced, mouthing an apology, before he raised his hand to tap at his comm. “Felicity, are you there? I’ve got Oliver. We’re in the northern corridor from the battle zone.” There was a brief pause, and then the speedster continued, hint of frustration in his tone, “I don’t think he’ll let me, he wants to stay here and help fight.” Another pause. Oliver growled impatiently. “He doesn’t look that small to me, he looks fully grown now. Look, he’s not gonna let me rush him out of here.”

A beat passed, and Oliver huffed, ears swivelling. _For god’s sake, Barry, we’re wasting time here!_

“He’s a dog, Felicity! You really think a comm unit is going to fit in his ear?!”

Gunfire.

Oliver threw himself to the side of the corridor onto the ground, covering his head with his paws. Yellow lightning filled the corridor, Barry zipping around frantically as five Ghosts came into view from the corner, firing their semi-automatics at them. It seemed, due to the rapid gunfire from all angles and the narrowness of the space, Barry couldn’t find a route to flash up to them and knock them out. Oliver coiled up tightly, bunching his muscles and risking taking a glance over at the Ghosts with observant eyes, trying to calculate what the best course of action would be.

The husky’s heart stopped. The Ghosts were the ones that had burnt him using a lighter, torturing the puppy for entertainment. He slipped into a hunter’s crouch with a resounding, ferocious growl. He had no plan, no weapon, but he was going to take those guys _down_. Snarling, he burst into a sprint, storming forwards the group of Ghosts. Because they were all so focused on trying shoot down the streak of yellow lightning, they didn’t realise that a very, very furious husky was attacking them until it was too late.

Oliver lunged upwards and sank his canines into one of the Ghost’s throat, kicking off the man’s chest with his paws and tearing. The Ghost crumpled, dead, blood flowing from his neck.

“ _FUCK!_ ” one of the Ghosts shouted, at the sight of his dead buddy bleeding out onto the floor. “Kill it! Forget about the Flash, just -” He gurgled, cut off, as Oliver leapt onto his back and snapped his jaws over the back of his neck, around his spine.

All the other Ghosts were panicking now, shooting everywhere at everything, torn between shooting at the speedster and shooting at the husky, which was now slaughtering them all without regret. Oliver wasn’t _killing_ them - but the damage he was inflicting would cause massive blood loss, and it was highly unlikely any of them would ever be talking or fighting again.

By the time Oliver was finished, he was panting. The awful smell of blood hanging in the air, and the sharp taste of copper on his tongue, made the husky’s insides twist with repulsion. There was red everywhere, slicking the ground and matting his fur. 

Oliver had to turn away to avoid throwing up. He’d done worse, killed people with more bloodshed, but somehow… this seemed worse. He was in an innocent puppy’s form, and he’d just severely injured five men. All of them were breathing, or more like rasping, struggling for oxygen through their torn throats. Oliver shuddered, curling on in himself as he remembered how his canines and claws had ripped through that flesh as easily as a knife cutting through butter.

 _They got what they deserved_ , that voice, that animalistic survivor side of his mind whispered. _They hurt you. They attacked you. They had it coming._

Oliver didn’t notice that the whirlwind of yellow lightning had stopped until Barry murmured, “Oh, man…”, his voice wavering as his horrified eyes trailed across the carnage laid out in front of him. “Oliver…”

 _You did what you had to do_ , the survivor continued. _You took out the threats._

But he’d done so in a lethal, violent, messy manner, using methods which would result in painful, drawn out deaths, rather than quick, one second mercy killings. The men had tortured him, driven him to tears, revelling in his screams and cries of pain and agony, but had they truly deserved _this_? Did they deserve to have their necks slashed open, to lie helpless as they struggled for air, suffocating on their own blood?

Oliver squared his shoulders, pushing all his tremors, regrets and fears aside. He had to compartmentalise. Back on the island, with ARGUS, with the Bratva, he’d forced himself to shed emotion, to become who and what he needed to be, to fight his way home. That was what he needed to do here. He needed to give in to the warrior, give in to instinct - he had to become somebody else. Something else.

Because that was who he was.

He was a fighter. A survivor.

He was the Green Arrow.

And above all, he had to get back to Felicity.

* * *

“Thea, Cisco, when I said go easy with the explosions - _I meant it!_ ”

Felicity leant in, tapping on his shoulder to question, “How many is that now?”

“Eight. Why did you even give them access to that many explosive charges in the first place?”

“Quentin, we all make mistakes. It was a spur of the moment decision. How was I to know that if I put over a dozen explosive arrows in Thea’s quiver, she would use all of them?”

“This is Thea we’re talking about, sweetheart.”

“Eh, good point,” she muttered.

Felicity and the police captain were holed up in the Team Arrow van, that was parked a few blocks down from Darhk and his Ghosts’ location; far away enough to avoid arousing suspicion, but close enough that Felicity could gain on-site access to the systems. She was currently combing through the CCTV she’d hacked into, trying to guide the scarlet speedster towards the vague direction of Darhk’s office, where Oliver’s tracker was pinging off his position. Lance, meanwhile, was trying to coordinate the team on comms, which was not going particularly well for him; he couldn’t participate out in the field during the rescue mission in case one of the Ghosts managed to hit him and reveal his identity, which meant he was stuck trying to wrangle Thea and Cisco in, who were getting quite overexcited about explosions.

“You’re two corridors down, Barry,” Felicity informed the speedster, swinging back to face her laptop screen. “Just head straight, Oliver’s in the room at the end.”

“Copy,” the Flash relayed. “I’m heading in now. Stand by.”

The blonde hummed thoughtfully in response, switching to her tablet to check on the individual members of their rescue teams’ positions in the building. If all went to plan, Oliver would be back in her arms safely and they would both be curled up on the couch watching _Die Hard_ by midnight. That was, however, depending on the husky puppy’s physical state. A tremor swept through Felicity’s body at that memory of Lance informing her of the archer’s injuries at the hands of the Ghosts. She desperately hoped Oliver hadn’t broken due to the torture and pain; she knew he could usually cope with physical pain, but in his vulnerable mental state, she was concerned he wouldn’t have enough emotional barriers to survive this unscathed.

“Are the team behaving now?” Felicity questioned Lance, shooting him a quick glance as she took out her cell phone, texting Caitlin that she might want to have Big Belly Burger prepared at the bunker for when they arrived back, specifically for Barry.

“Hmm, Diggle seems to have got them under control,” the captain answered. “Although he allowed Thea and Cisco two last explosions. They wanted to reach a dozen.”

“They managed to create two more explosions in the last five minutes?” Felicity asked incredulously. But then she sighed, rubbing her forehead. “What am I saying - it’s Thea and Cisco. They could have probably made six more and I still wouldn’t be very surprised.”

Barry’s comm link crackled to life, startling the blonde in her seat. “Felicity, are you there?”

“Yep, I’m here, you’re coming through loud and clear.”

“I’ve got Oliver. We’re in the northern corridor from the battle zone.”

Relief rushed through Felicity, almost making her slump in her seat and put her head in her hands. She felt as if a boulder had been gouged out of her chest, the heaviness sitting on her heart finally lifting. Barry had Oliver, and that meant that Oliver would soon be safe. “Oh, thank god. Barry, pick him up, get him out of there.”

The speedster sighed audibly over the line, sounding annoyed as he told her, “I don’t think he’ll let me, he wants to stay here and help fight.”

Felicity managed to stop herself from slamming her head against the wall, but it was a close call. “He can’t stay and fight, Barry, he’s a _puppy_. He’s _tiny_. He’ll get squished!”

“He doesn’t look that small to me, he looks fully grown now. Look, he’s not gonna let me rush him out of here.”

Running a hand over her face in irritation, Felicity ordered, “Alright, give him your comm unit, I need to speak to him in my Loud Voice and convince him to stop making reckless decisions.”

“He’s a dog, Felicity! You really think a comm unit is going to fit in his ear?!”

The sound of a flurry of bullets from the speedster’s side of the line caused Felicity to jump out of her chair with a squeak of shock. She frantically called both Barry and Oliver’s names for half a minute or so, but Barry’s comm must have shorted out or been destroyed in the chaos, because all she got was static in response. Insides twisting in concern, Felicity found herself on the edge of a panic attack as she worried about everything that could have possibly happened to Oliver during the shootout within the compound. The fact that she knew Barry was with the puppy didn’t help comfort her as such; Oliver was excellent at evasion, and if Barry was trying to get him out of the area, the husky would most likely be hiding from him - and going off on his own again. If it weren’t for Lance placing a calming hand on her shoulder as he softly told her to _breathe_ , she would have began hyperventilating. 

When Barry’s comm remained transmitting static for five minutes, Felicity knew in her gut that it was because it was broken. They weren’t going to be hearing back from the speedster for a while. Hopefully, he was keeping Oliver away from the fighting. Centering herself, Felicity turned back to Lance and linked up her own comm to the team frequency, joining in on the chatter.

“Is there any sign of Darhk?” she demanded, and when Diggle, Thea, Laurel and Cisco all replied with vague noises meaning, ‘no, sorry’, she huffed angrily. “Dammit, I really wanted to kick his ass using one of those new remotely controlled implosive hydrogen powered missiles.”

“Gesundheit,” Laurel responded. “He probably did a runner when you relayed that threatening message through the speaker systems.”

“Yeah, remind me to never get on your bad side,” Cisco said.

“Focus please,” Diggle ordered. “Felicity, we have a bit of a situation here. More Ghosts keep on coming and Speedy, Black Canary and I are having an increasingly more difficult time keeping Cisco out of the fray and fighting these guys.”

Chewing on her lip, Felicity quickly brought up the schematics of the building on her tablet before using the ARGUS satellite Lyla was lending them to take a look at the bird’s-eye view satellite thermal imaging of the area. “Looks like all of the Ghosts are coming out of a main side door, forty feet to Speedy’s right. If you block it off, there’s no way for them to get into that space to attack you anymore.”

“Yeah, there are two walls between you guys and the next nearest door the Ghosts can use to get to you,” Lance agreed. “You need to close up that entranceway somehow.”

“How do I block it off?” Thea asked, the red tracker dot showing her position moving on the monitor towards the doorway. From the sounds of thwicks of arrows, swishes of swords and the pained cries of Ghosts, she was obviously fighting her way towards that door.

“One of your explosive charge arrows should knock it in.”

“... um, yeah, slight problem.”

“What?”

“We kinda used all of them up already,” Cisco replied for her, his voice sheepish.

“How many of them did you use?!”

“Um, I think fourteen, if you include the first two to attract their attention and the twelve after that, but we weren’t counting.”

“I’m never letting you two work together ever again,” Felicity said, shaking her head, aghast.

“Felicity, we need a distraction!” Diggle shouted. “It’s kind of getting hard to take them all down when they’re swarming us, and Black Canary’s been hit!”

Lance’s amused expression morphed into one of horror and worry, and he whispered, “Laurel,” his face growing pale.

“It’s not bad,” Laurel gritted out. “Just a bullet scrape on my arm, but I’d prefer to get it treated quickly so the risk of infection is lower.”

Rapidly trying to find something she could control within the compound to create a distraction for the team, Felicity grew more frantic as she found that the only option she truly had was blowing water or gas mains, which could cause havoc along the entire block.

Before she could decide on a plan of action, however, a powerful howl split the air, echoing over the comms and making both the blonde’s and the police captain’s heads snap up in equal astonishment.

“Oh my _god_ ,” Felicity whispered.

From the CCTV camera feed, she could see what appeared as the silhouette of a large wolf upon the edge of the building’s roof, raising its head in a powerful howl. Whilst the Ghosts were distracted, staring in wonder and shock, Team Arrow managed to knock the rest of them down, taking out the remaining attackers.

“Holy shit, he’s awesome,” Thea crowed in delight.

“Is that _Oliver?_ ” Lance questioned, standing so he could lean towards the screen to get a better look at it. Stunned disbelief spread across his face. “Wow, Allen wasn’t kidding. He really isn’t a puppy anymore.”

Felicity’s heart was thrumming in her chest, a lump in her throat as she watched the wolf-like husky parkour his way down from the roof, jumping down onto the top of a black truck, down onto the bonnet and then to the ground, swishing his tail with his dark fur bristling. When more Ghosts appeared in the side doorway, guns in hands, the dog whipped around towards them and heaved a ferocious snarl, blue eyes wild and feral. Felicity gasped audibly when the Ghosts retreated in response, the words ‘wolf’, ‘killed’ and ‘blood’ on their lips as they jammed the door shut, so that the fierce animal couldn’t chase after them. It was then that Felicity saw, even with the grainy grey footage, that there were darker patches covering the husky’s paws, chest and face. Blood. There was blood on Oliver’s face, and Felicity didn’t know whether to be worried, or terrified.

The Flash zipped into view, skidding to a halt in between Thea and Cisco. “Was that a good enough distraction for you?” Felicity heard him ask teasingly, through the other team members’ comms.

“Guys, ask Barry to sweep the area for Darhk,” Felicity ordered. “But please, get back to the van with Oliver ASAP.”

“We’re coming,” Thea replied, kneeling and placing her bow to the ground as she called out softly, “Oliver, come here.”

The husky slowly slunk over to the younger Queen, his every step hesitant. Felicity’s eyes filled with tears as she saw Oliver pause and sniff at his little sister warily, as if unsure whether or not she would hurt him. What hell had her boyfriend suffered through at the hands of Darhk and the Ghosts to make him act like that? Eventually, Oliver stepped forwards and dipped his head to brush his muzzle against Thea’s desperately beckoning fingers. Diggle and Laurel slipped up beside him carefully, going still when Oliver flinched at their approach, only dropping down to their knees and stroking across his back soothingly once the archer relaxed.

“We’ll meet you at the van,” Cisco relayed, and then the comm connection beeped, signifying the members of the team had turned their units off.

Felicity pretty much fell out of her seat in her haste to open the van’s door, Lance having to reach out to steady her when she tripped up on her way there. She hopped down to the ground, clutching her trembling hands to her chest as she watched the corner intently. She was drowning in her worry, and longing to have Oliver back in her arms again.

When the team appeared, Diggle helping Laurel whilst Cisco and Thea conversing lightly, and Felicity caught sight of Oliver trotting at his little sister’s side, she released a sob. He looked weary, his ears flat to his skull and head lowered. His walk seemed exhausted and his paws were dragging. He was visibly physically tired, but the dull sheen to his blue eyes told of a different tiredness, a mental and emotional fatigue that was weighing on him. As soon as he saw Felicity, however, the husky perked up, ears twitching as his strides quickened, before he was full out sprinting towards the blonde.

Felicity dropped to her knees, tears spilling from her eyes as she opened her arms out to him. Oliver collided with her chest sharply, his whole body wiggling and small whines escaping his throat, as he licked all over her face and neck. Felicity didn’t even care that the ground was cold and slightly wet; she collapsed backwards onto her back so the dog could clamber up onto her, and she could wrap her arms around Oliver to embrace him tightly.

“Oh, thank god,” she breathed, burying her face into his soft pelt. “You’re okay, I’ve got you, you’re okay.” She sniffed, struggling to swallow the lump in her throat as Oliver continued gently lapping at her neck with his coarse tongue, whimpering. “God, I would be yelling at you so much for being a reckless idiot right now if I weren’t so relieved you’re finally safe.”

She didn’t realise that Oliver’s long, drawn-out cries was actually him crying, not from just joy but also pain, until her hand brushed over what felt like a clump of fur and he jumped, mewling.

“What did those monsters do to you?” Felicity murmured, sitting up and gently pushing him off her chest and onto his lap. She carefully examined the burns over his pelt, barely touching her fingertips to them when Oliver moaned softly. They were fresh, obviously made that morning, just before Lance went to meet with Darhk. Scratching under his chin and over his ears to comfort him, she reassured, “Caitlin will treat the burns, sweetheart. You’re going to be fine. Those nasty men can’t hurt you again.”

He ducked his head underneath her armpit, almost making Felicity yelp in surprise, but then she spotted his tail tucked firmly beneath his legs and his shaking paws. He was scared. She wished she could pick him und cuddle him in her arms, carrying him home, but he was far too large and heavy as a full grown dog.

In the end, she ended up just sitting in the back of the van where all her tech equipment was with Oliver resting on her lap on the journey back to the lair. Felicity continued to stroke and soothe him as he trembled. His adrenalin brought on by all the fighting and drama must have worn off, because he was being hit with all the terror and fear from earlier now, and it was bringing on an anxiety attack. Diggle drove, whilst Thea sat up front, so that Lance could begin treating the cut on Laurel’s arm in the back. Cisco was getting a lift back with Barry. Thankfully, everybody seemed to understand that the only person who could possibly calm Oliver down in his condition was Felicity, so nobody tried to pet him or smother him with touches.

Felicity was just utterly relieved that Oliver was back with the team, and back with her, where he belonged. When Lance had told her Oliver had burns over his fur, she hadn’t imagined it would be this bad. The Ghosts must have been enjoying torturing the husky, because there were a _lot_ of burns. There were some particularly bad ones on his stomach, and Felicity was horrified that she could see very faint letters within the burnt fur - they weren’t very clear, but she knew that those burns would leave permanent scars. Oliver would be left with a long-lasting reminder of the torture he suffered at the hands of Darhk and the Ghosts. Along with all the burns, he seemed to be bruised _everywhere_ , flinching and wincing even at the slightest pressure on his skin.

Felicity wasn’t even going to start with the blood. There were dried splashes and flecks of crimson over his paws, chest and his muzzle, and from what she could tell… it wasn’t Oliver’s blood. That was probably even more alarming to her. If Oliver were cut somewhere to explain the blood, they could deal with that, but the idea of the blood being from somebody else, somebody that Oliver had attacked in self-defence… that frightened her. Oliver was teetering on the edge of mental stability as it was, and maiming or killing someone would not have helped that.

They eventually reached the lair, and Oliver followed Felicity through where they parked in the garage to the medical area, where Caitlin was prepped with blue Latex gloves on. Barry and Cisco were already seated in the chairs on the blonde’s platform, gorging themselves on Big Belly Burger. Thea went up to join them, and Laurel, Lance and Diggle retreated to a medical table set up for them several feet away from Caitlin’s one to treat Laurel’s bullet graze.

Oliver shrunk back into himself as Caitlin crouched and attempted to coax him closer. He was trembling, a feral, terrified gleam in his blue eyes and his belly close to the ground. “It’s alright, Oliver, I’m not going to hurt you,” Caitlin said quietly. “I just want to check your injuries and make sure the Ghosts and Darhk didn’t do anything too bad to you, okay? Felicity can stay with you the entire time. Just a quick five minute check up, and then another five or ten minutes to tend to those burns of yours.”

The husky consented, albeit reluctantly. He could barely stand he was shaking so much, and he would only stay still if Felicity kept bodily contact with him at all times. Felicity’s respect for Caitlin rose by at least fifty percent; the doctor somehow managed to school a straight expression during her medical examination, despite the turmoil and pity dancing in her gaze. The only time Caitlin’s calm façade cracked was when she got Oliver to lie on his side so she could check over his stomach, and she saw the excessive burns there.

After applying some burn and anti-scarring cream to all the singed areas, Caitlin called Thea down to stay with Oliver and try to get him to drink some water. She wanted to take Felicity to the side to talk to her. At first, the husky was unhappy about his girlfriend leaving him, but when his little sister began scratching that particular spot behind his ears, he settled. Felicity kept her gaze glued on the husky worriedly as Caitlin spoke, but soon was forced to draw her eyes away to fix her attention on the doctor.

“Overall, the burns aren’t that bad, except the ones on his stomach,” Caitlin said, her voice low. “He’s got some bruised ribs and he’s going to need to take it easy for a while. Right now, his physical state isn’t what concerns me the most; it’s his mental state that’s going to present the most issues.”

“He flinches when I touch him,” Felicity whispered. “And he hasn’t stopped shaking since we got him back.”

“His anxiety will heighten over the next week or so, but that’s normal in response to a trauma like this. What I’m most worried about is how his depression and self esteem issues might get massively worse because of the burns on his stomach.”

Felicity swallowed. “What about them?”

“They burnt a word into his stomach, Felicity,” Caitlin said, and her voice broke as she finished, “They spelt the word ‘worthless’.”

_Oh my god._

The blonde’s heart plummeted, and she thought she was going to throw up.

What kind of person would do that, brand an innocent puppy _worthless_ for fun?

She should have given Thea and Cisco access to more explosive arrows.

“Oliver doesn’t know what they spelt, unless they specifically told him,” the doctor carried on. “His fur is covering it up right now, but as soon as he turns back into his human form - he’s going to find out, Felicity. If this experience wasn’t mentally scarring enough for him, the Ghosts branding him as worthless is what’s going to cause him to snap.”

“When do you think he’s going to turn back?”

Caitlin ran a hand over her face tiredly. “From his recent growth spurts, I’d say tomorrow will be the last day he’s in dog form. He’ll most likely transform back tomorrow night, during his sleep.”

“What should we do tomorrow?”

“Relaxing activities,” Caitlin ordered. “Watch a movie, cuddle with him in bed. Maybe get the team together and take him to the park. No Team Arrow stuff, and certainly nothing that’ll put strain on his injuries, or rile him up.” She hesitated, before questioning, “Felicity, do you know where the blood is from?”

She shook her head, but from the look on the doctor’s face, she already knew.

“Barry told me when he first ran back in here,” Caitlin said. “Oliver mauled five Ghosts. He ripped their throats out. From what Barry told me, they were alive when they left them in the corridor, but they probably didn’t live much longer than that.”

Oliver had been captured and tortured whilst in his most vulnerable physical and mental state. And now Felicity was just finding out that he tore apart five guys. Most likely they deserved to feel some sort of pain - perhaps they were the Ghosts that gave Oliver the burns, and that’s why he’d attacked them - but they didn’t deserve to die like that. It greatly unsettled her to think that her boyfriend had pretty much killed five people. The only reassuring factor was that at least it was affecting Oliver in some way - he wasn’t acting cold and heartless. She knew he must be feeling some remorse and horror at his actions, which was why he was withdrawing so much from them now.

“Thank you for telling me,” she nodded. “And thank you for helping us out. Helping Oliver. Please know that we really appreciate it.”

“We’re friends, Felicity, teammates. It was no problem,” Caitlin smiled. “Now, I’ll drag Barry and Cisco out of your hair so that you can take Oliver home and give him a round of cuddles. He’s going to need it.”

“I just hope he’s gonna be okay,” Felicity muttered.

“Felicity, he’s Oliver Queen. If anybody can survive this mentally, if anybody can bounce back from a trauma like this - it’s him.”

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed. Please leave kudos and comment below!
> 
> Tumblr: @alexiablackbriar13  
> Twitter: @lexiblackbriar


	10. ~ Part 10 ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we have come to the end of this tale.
> 
> ... Not really. There will be three or four epilogues. The main part of the fic is just finished.
> 
> Thank you everybody for all your amazing support and incredible comments. It was an absolute pleasure writing this and I've had a great time. It was very enjoyable losing myself in this world where Oliver is a puppy and immense adorableness was all that really mattered.
> 
> I'd really appreciate if you left a comment at the very end of the work after completing the last chapter, telling me about your experience reading this fic. It would definitely motivate me as a writer and motivate me to write the epilogues a lot faster! And spoiler alert - there are many, many more puppies in the epilogues.

* * *

Oliver couldn’t sleep.

He was settled on his side next to Felicity on top of the covers, his girlfriend sleeping soundly beside him. The husky raised his head, ears flicking backwards uneasily. The darkness of his and Felicity’s bedroom just agitated him, so soon after he’d been locked up in a tiny cage whilst soaking wet by the Ghosts, in the pitch black. Upon arriving home, Felicity had been a wonder, managing to calm him down from his long lasting anxiety attack by cuddling with him for half an hour or so on the couch. Since it was very late, they’d headed up to bed not long after that, and Felicity had dropped off to sleep almost immediately, one of her arms wrapped around Oliver’s body.

 _You don’t deserve her_ , that nasty voice inside his mind growled. _You’re not worth her. You’re a monster; you mauled those five people. How can you possibly expect her to want to be with somebody like YOU? Somebody as DAMAGED as you? Somebody as BROKEN as you?_

Whimpering, Oliver placed his head on top of paws for a moment, trying to swallow back his nausea as memories of being drenched with freezing cold water and trapped by metal bars in dark, echoing silence plagued him. He didn’t realise he was trembling until Felicity frowned and shifted next to him, tightening her grip around his stomach.

Feeling sick at the confinement, the feeling of not being able to move due to the arm restricting his escape, Oliver crawled out from beside his girlfriend desperately. The husky was shaking terribly, not even caring that his shuffling to the end of the bed caused the sheets to brush up against his burns and injuries painfully. Licking his lips and over his nose, he watched Felicity lying motionlessly, chest rising and falling steadily, and tried to focus on the sound of air rushing in and out of her mouth as an anchor.

_I am safe. I’m with Felicity. I’m not with Darhk and the Ghosts. I’m in our bedroom. I’m not in that dungeon. I’m safe._

“Ol’ver?” the blonde muttered, voice faint and slurred with exhaustion. Oliver tried to hide his face with his paws, burying into the sheets slightly to hide his trembling and muffle his whimpers. Hearing his whines, the blonde seemed to instantly awaken, scooting upwards against the headboard. She opened her arms out, gesturing for him to come to her lap. “Hey, are you okay? Come here, sweetheart.”

He shook his head, coiling up even tighter with his muscles tensing. He didn’t want to be touched. Felicity was kind and caring and loving, and her touches were nothing but gentle, but stuck in the headspace he was in… Oliver knew his threat processing would only interpret the soft affection as harmful and jarring. After suffering so much pain, his body would register all contact as dangerous, and it broke his heart to think he would just end up flinching away from his girlfriend if she tried to hug him.

When the husky refused to move, curled up and shaking at the foot of the bed, Felicity tucked her legs beneath her and slowly scooted forwards until she was seated at his side. She didn’t attempt to touch him, simply sitting cross-legged in front of him, her own body heat radiating into his tiny body.

“It’s okay Oliver,” she reassured him quietly. “You’re safe, and I’m here for you. You’ve gone through a horrific experience; you need time. I’ll wait as long as I need to for you to be ready to be touched again. You are safe, my love, and nobody can harm you here.” After a moment of silence, Felicity asked gently, “Is the dark? Should I turn the lights on?”

She didn’t even wait for his response, standing quickly and going over to the bedside table to turn a lamp on there. The light was dazzling at first due to being subjected to being in the pitch black for so long, but Felicity grabbed a thin blanket from under the bed to drape over it; the brightness was muffled and dimmed, casting very soft light over them both. The fact that they were no longer bathed with darkness immensely soothed Oliver, as he could instantly see his surroundings a lot better; there was no doubt whatsoever in his mind that he was in their bedroom, despite that niggling at the back of his brain telling him he was still trapped.

Still, however, he didn’t like how cramped the space was. Their bedroom was roomy, but with the blinds drawn and door shut, it made it seem like a confining space. The husky slunk down to the floor with a huff, watching Felicity with beady, wary eyes, wondering how she would react if he signalled he wanted to head downstairs, where there was an open floor plan.

“You want to go downstairs?” Felicity questioned.

Oliver flicked his ears nervously, wondering how his girlfriend was going to react to him wanting to get up out of bed at such a horrific hour. Felicity, however, simply stretched out with a groan gritted out between her feet and stood, smiling at him. She wrapped their favourite green blanket around her bare shoulders, as she was only wearing a vest top and panties, and then padded to the stairs, motioning for Oliver to follow.

Bounding down the stairs, Oliver slipped in between Felicity’s legs to rush downwards. The blonde yelped, almost tripping up over the husky and tutting disapprovingly at him, which made Oliver tense his shoulders, licking over his canines sheepishly.

Felicity patted the couch, saying softly, “Do you wanna get up here and wait as I get us some ice cream, honey?” He nodded, shying away from her hands but jumping onto the cushions, curling up tightly. “Here, I’ll put something on for you.” She switched on the TV, but on low volume and brightness. Flicking through the channels, she eventually settled on a kid’s cartoon show, with an excitable, curly haired young boy and colourful powered ‘Gem’ women.

It was strangely interesting, and Oliver found himself immersed in watching the group’s adventures fighting monsters whilst Felicity vanished briefly into the kitchen. The glow of the TV screen was soothing after having felt so suffocated by the darkness, and although the husky should have been dropping off back to sleep, instead Oliver felt too wracked with adrenalin to even contemplate a nap.

Felicity used Oliver’s usual move of sliding over the armrest and plopping down onto the couch beside him, two bowls in hand. She set one of them in front of the husky, carefully propping it between two pillows so that it was secure. Oliver blinked down at the contents, three scoops of his favourite vanilla ice cream, and raised his head in question, licking his lips as he started to drool at the sheer heavenly smell of the frozen dairy. “I looked it up, and dogs are allowed vanilla ice cream in moderation. The entire bowl’s for you, honey. Help yourself.”

Happiness soaring, Oliver dug in, licking at the ice cream in the bowl, rumbling delightedly at its taste. He wasn’t usually one to luxuriate in sweets very often, unless he was baking something for Felicity or it was a special occasion. Every fortnight, however, he and Felicity would have their TV marathon evening, before they went out on patrol on Friday nights; that was the one time they both indulged in full bowls of ice cream, with all the toppings.

“Feeling better?”

Oliver nodded, barely pausing in his eating and just flicking one of his ears with a huff of acknowledgement. He did feel better. Now he wasn’t stuck in a confining, dark room, and he could see his surroundings clearly, his mind was beginning to settle, contentment washing over him. He was certain now that he was safe from harm in his and Felicity’s Loft. There were no imminent threats, and he could start to relax. Felicity seemed to be very calm herself, spooning ice cream into her mouth as she lounged on the couch, close to but not touching the husky.

“You know, Amethyst kind of reminds me of Thea.” Oliver glanced up, confused. At the sight of him, Felicity bit her lip to hold in her laughter, saying in a strained, amused voice, “You’ve, um, got a little bit of ice cream on your face there, Oliver.”

No doubt he had it all over his face. A sudden evil thought came over the husky, and he stood, stepping towards Felicity slowly. She frowned, watching him warily. He took another step forwards, closer to the blonde.

They stared at each other for a mere second, and then Oliver rushed forwards, wiggled under her tank top, and smashed his ice cream covered face into Felicity’s stomach.

“Noooo!” Felicity groaned, shoving him off lightly and jumping to her feet. She examined her now melted ice cream covered belly with disgust, but there was an entertained glint in her blue eyes that informed Oliver that she was amused. “Aww, man. Now I’m gonna be all sticky. Thanks a lot - no, Oliver, what are you - no, eww, ewww! Oliver, stop!”

He pulled away from where he had stretched out and quickly lapped the ice cream off her skin, not wanting to waste the dairy treat. Aiming a cocky, smug grin her way, the husky settled back down, licking the rest of the ice cream off of his face.

“You’re vile,” Felicity complained. “Now I have ice cream and dog saliva on me. Yuck.”

 _I took most of the ice cream off, so you’re welcome_ , he smirked.

She scowled playfully. “Little weasel. S’too late to take a shower as well. Guess I’ll just have to…” Lancing forwards, she grabbed the husky’s half empty ice cream bowl, “Take the rest of your ice cream away!”

He yowled unhappily, teetering at the edge of the couch as he batted at her hip with his paw, pleading with a whine that Felicity give it back. How dare she try and take his ice cream away! The sheer nerve! She held it above her head for a moment, but as his whimpering continued, she rolled her eyes and gave in.

They both finished up their ice cream, watching another few Steven Universe episodes. When Felicity vanished briefly to place their dirty bowls in the sink, Oliver squirmed and jumped up, his paws on the top of the couch as he watched his girlfriend with his head tilted sideways, ears flopping. He wiggled happily when she returned, whining. A grin spreading across her face, the blonde pulled the blanket draped around her shoulders off and threw it on top of the husky.

Oliver flailed underneath it until his head popped out, nose twitching. The blanket was pleasantly warm due to his girlfriend’s body heat, and he snuggled into it, blinking giant blue eyes up at her. Felicity chuckled, dropping down onto the cushions as she shot him a fond look. However, after a moment, the blonde grew serious, front teeth scraping over her bottom lip in worry.

“Oliver, you know that whatever happened with Darhk and the Ghosts… whatever you might of done -” She paused to swallow, and as the husky caught sight of the haunted look in her eyes, he realised in horror that she _knew_ \- “I still love you, right? Nothing has affected that, nothing would _ever_ affect that. ” She seemed hesitant, not wanting to upset him again. “Can I touch you now?” she questioned quietly, her fingers hovering over his fur, dancing in the air above his skin. 

He hesitated, pulling away to curl into himself. He was _dark,_ and Felicity was _light_. He had torn five people to shreds - and Felicity undoubtedly knew about it. How was she _not_ afraid of him? Why was she staying with him, when she knew he was a monster? Sure, he was feeling remorseful now - but before, when he’d been slashing throats, consumed by the blood lust, he hadn’t felt an inch of guilt. He was _poison_ , and if Felicity stayed with him, he was going to infect and kill her.

Whimpering, Oliver ducked his head under his paws. God, he was such a mess. He was worthless, and he wasn’t good enough for her. Felicity should just walk away now, while she still had the chance.

“Oliver, I am _not_ leaving you,” she promised, the sincerity in her voice enough to almost bring him to tears. It was as if she could read his mind, understand all of his doubts and fears just by his body language. “I love you with all my heart, and I always will.”

He shook his head miserably. _You shouldn’t._

“I _do_. I _love you_ , and you may think you’re not worthy of love, not worthy of life, that you are nothing, but that’s why I’m here - to tell you that you are _wrong_ , and you are _everything_.”

He remained silent, not knowing to respond to that.

“Honey, _please_ say I can touch you, because I really need to hug you right now.”

The husky felt more comfortable and much better mentally than he had before, although everything was still pretty wobbly in his head; his sensitivity wasn’t as high, so he felt happy enough letting Felicity touch him. Cuddles with his girlfriend were sure to lighten his sombre mood. He nodded, shuffling sideways so that Felicity could swing her legs up and lie down, and once she was supine, Oliver clambered on top of her, dragging the blanket up and over them using his canines. He burrowed into her chest, burying his head into her neck and licking affectionately. Felicity enveloped him in her arms lightly, threading her fingers through his soft pelt whilst humming, using her hands to massage his tense, strained muscles, which made the husky rumble in pleasure.

They continued watching Steven Universe until the dim lights and low volume began to lull them both to sleep, physical and mental exhaustion taking over as they relaxed. Felicity’s body heat radiating into his puppy form soothed Oliver into an almost slumber, his overwhelming drowsiness causing his ears and whiskers to droop, and his eyelids to flutter shut. Felicity groped for the TV remote. Her movements were already weak with tiredness, and she switched the TV off whilst shifting so she was pressed into the back of the couch, Oliver cradled against her chest.

Yawning, the husky curled up with a whispered, _I love you_ , the words coming out as a purr.

“Love you,” Felicity slurred.

Horrific nightmares plagued the husky that night, but curled on top of the love his life with her arms wrapped around him, Oliver fought the darkness in his mind. Sure, he was broken, and damaged. But with Felicity at his side, he was _strong_.

* * *

“How’s he doing?”

Felicity glanced sideways at Diggle as he voiced his worried question quietly, before turning back to face forwards, searching for the husky, and only relaxing when her gaze settled on him again. “I don’t know exactly,” she replied, voice equally as quiet. “His anxiety and PTSD are definitely heightened. He’s having issues with the dark, confinement and touch at the moment, but that’s to be expected.”

“He seems very withdrawn,” her best friend muttered.

It was early morning, and Team Arrow and Co. were at the park. It was the same park that Lance had taken Oliver to before, so dogs were allowed, but there weren’t very many dogs and their owners about. Whilst Felicity and Diggle were seated on a bench, conversing lightly, Lyla and Thea were helping Sara stumble along the path towards a birdbath. The husky was watching on diligently, walking along at the toddler’s side protectively. Quentin and Laurel were throwing a ball for a police dog that the captain had volunteered to take out, a German Shepherd called Percival, who Oliver apparently was quite friendly with. As Felicity swept her gaze over the group, she struggled not to smile; they looked like a little family on an outing together. There was, however, something wrong about the image, something that made her swallow and frown concernedly.

Oliver was stiff. He walked as if he was in pain, which was entirely possible, because his wounds and injuries were still healing. Felicity had dabbed on some burn cream and fed the husky a painkiller that Caitlin had prescribed, but Oliver still ached, half limping and hesitant to move very quickly. The most distinct behaviour change in the puppy was that he now refused to let baby Sara touch him. Oliver _adored_ Sara. When he’d first been changed into husky puppy form, he’d played with the toddler and allowed her to hug and squeeze him, despite his touch sensitivity. Now, he flinched away from her tiny hands, even squirming away from her when she got too close. Sara got upset over it at first, but then Lance arrived with Percival, and she doted over the German Shepherd instead, leaving Oliver alone. The husky was carefully observing Sara as she wobbled along, hanging onto her mother and Thea’s hands, but was keeping his distance from her.

“Oliver’s introverted,” Felicity shook her head. “He withdraws, and he’s remained reclusive even with us two, after all our years together.”

Diggle sighed. “This is different, and you know it. This is more pronounced withdrawal, more emphasised distance. It’s a symptom of his depression.”

“I know,” Felicity said, troubled. “But he’s always been depressed, John. Ever since he arrived back in Starling City. Probably when he was being forced to operate for ARGUS, and working with the Bratva, as well.”

“Lyla says that when he was working for ARGUS, he was forced to see a psychiatrist. They diagnosed him with depression and Waller decided to treat it with Zoloft.”

“By treating it, you mean they were drugging him without him knowing,” Felicity said, anger leaking into her voice. Amanda Waller had treated Oliver horrifically during his year working for ARGUS. She’d tortured him, blackmailed him into killing people for her, and overall treated him more like a personal weapon than a human being. “I don’t think he’ll go back onto medication willingly, John.”

“Talk to him about it, maybe?” Diggle suggested. “And if he’s adamantly against it, send him to me. I’m on Zoloft for PTSD. I might be able to convince him that going onto anti-depressants will improve his health.”

“We’ll have a conversation about it, after he’s readjusted back to being in human form,” Felicity nodded. “I know he needs mental help. I think he knows that as well. Treating his issues with ice cream, cuddling and Steven Universe like I did last night isn’t going to work forever.” She bit her lip, gnawing worriedly on it as she watched the husky skirt around to the other side of baby Sara, nudging her in the leg encouragingly before jumping back, flinching. “He’s drowning in guilt over this whole situation, John. He thought I was going to leave him. I’m anxious about how he’s going to recover from this whole ordeal after he turns back.”

“ _F’liss! Da!_ ”

Felicity whipped around and searched until her eyes landed on Sara, who was bouncing on the spot next to the birdbath. Oliver had abandoned his guard, obviously sure that Sara was safe now, and was sitting a few metres away from Lance, who was still repeatedly throwing a tennis ball for Percival. “Yeah, sweetie?” she called.

“Com’in feed bird with Ma, T’ya and me!” the toddler demanded.

“Sara,” Lyla said warningly.

“P’wease,” the little girl added, as an afterthought. “An’ need’ta give Ol’yeee a Sara-snuggle.”

Sara-snuggles were special cuddles that Oliver and Felicity did with the toddler, where they lifted her up into the air and blew raspberries into her stomach whilst tickling and hugging her. It was her favourite thing to do with the archer, and become somewhat of a tradition for them to do every time they met. Sara was also very insistent usually that only she was the only receiver of the special Sara-snuggles. The fact that she was saying that _Oliver_ should get a Sara-snuggle meant that she could sense that something was very wrong with the husky.

“I thought Sara-snuggles were only for Sara,” Lyla said, sounding curious.

Sara nodded, humming her response. “Uh huh, but Ol’yeeee _sad_. He hadda bad head day.”

Both Diggle and Lyla inhaled sharply at their daughter’s words. Oliver didn’t seem to notice, staring at the police dog, who was racing after a recently thrown ball out on the main field. Taking in the Diggles’ upset expression, Felicity stood and strode over to the toddler, so she could crouch down in front of her. “What do you mean by bad head day, little bird?” she whispered, tapping the girl’s nose and smiling when she giggled.

“Bad head day,” Sara repeated, and then she squealed, stumbling away from Felicity, Thea and her mother, as Percival had wandered over with a tennis ball in his mouth.

Turning to Lyla, the blonde asked lowly, “Bad head day?”

“It’s what Johnny and I say when we’ve had a particularly bad day mentally,” Lyla answered, dismayed. “Normally we tell her that if she witnesses one of us having a panic attack, or in the midst of a depressive episode. She must be able to sense that Oliver hasn’t been having a very nice time lately.”

Sara was staggering back over to them now, and Thea stepped forwards to sweep her up into her arms, propping the toddler on her hip. The younger Queen sibling shot Felicity and Lyla a look to inform them that she had this handled; she then took the little girl over to the birdbath, picking up their small bag of birdseed, and patiently waited as Sara dropped seed by singular seed onto the little feeding platform, babbling happily.

Oliver, meanwhile, had inched up to Lance, and was now resting on his haunches in front of the German Shepherd police dog, ears flicking as he huffed. The two pups could have been having a conversation, and nobody would ever know what they were discussing.

“This may seem like a really strange question,” Lyla said, drawing Felicity’s attention back towards her. “But what are you going to do with all the dog stuff that you and Team Flash bought for Oliver?”

Felicity narrowed her eyes, lips twitching up in a slight grin. “Will you be in need of that stuff in the near future?”

“... Possibly,” Lyla admitted.

“Does John know you’ll be needing dog stuff soon?”

“... No comment.”

“You know I’m just going to keep bugging you until you tell me,” Felicity snickered.

“No comment.”

“If you don’t tell me, I won’t give you the stuff.”

Lyla pursed her lips, trying, “I’m the Deputy Director of ARGUS.”

Felicity raised an eyebrow. “And I’m Felicity Smoak.”

Disgruntled, Lyla sighed, giving in. “Okay, Johnny and I discussed it, but I have yet to convince him getting a puppy is a good idea. I’m very close, and Sara is wearing him down, especially since she’s so adorable with Oliver.” The woman dipped her head, adding quietly, “Speaking of whom…”

A soft whimper from behind the blonde startled her. She turned to see Oliver lying on the ground, clenching his canines around the tennis ball in his mouth and gazing up at her with wide, nervous blue eyes. As soon as he saw that she was looking at him, the husky perked up, ears and nose twitching as his tail began to wag, although half-heartedly. He dropped the tennis ball at her feet and sat down, smacking his lips and tilting his head. He was obviously waiting for her to pick up the ball and throw it, which surprised Felicity, because Oliver hadn’t shown any impulses to chase after tennis balls before.

The big Alsatian police dog plodded up beside the smaller husky, nuzzling at his shoulder with a rumble. The husky nipped at the older dog’s legs with a growl, telling him to back away. Percival just shot him an irritated look and plonked down on his behind beside him. Yep, looked like even in husky form, Oliver’s interpersonal skills were rusty and needed some work.

Felicity knelt to pick up the tennis ball, and as she did so, reached out with a hesitant hand to stroke between the husky’s ears. Oliver eyed her warily, but arched his head up to her touch, closing his eyes in bliss as she perfectly scratched those areas at the back of his skull. “Hey, baby,” she murmured. “You wanna play with the ball?”

Glancing down at his paws, Oliver shrugged non-committedly, letting a small, insecure noise escape his throat.

“This is your last day in husky form,” Felicity said. He nodded understandingly. “Is there anything you want to do before you turn back?” The husky shot her a strange look, cocking his head. “You’ve had a rotten time, but it hasn’t been _completely_ awful, has it? We’ve had some fun. So is there anything you would like to do for fun whilst you’re still a puppy?”

Oliver scrutinised her carefully, as if nervous she was going to express judgement for any decisions she made. Felicity just remained crouching in front of him, with an incredibly open expression, tennis ball in hand as she gently stroked down his back soothingly. Then, the husky stepped forwards and nosed the tennis ball with a soft rumble, ears pricking forwards in an alert manner.

Felicity’s heart soared. He wanted her to throw the ball. Swiftly standing up to full height, she lobbed the tennis ball with as much force as she could so it flew across the field like a small fluorescent green grenade. 

Immediately, Oliver and Percival both raced after it frantically. Oliver, the younger and more athletic out of the pair, sprinted ahead, a tiny grey and black bullet as he dashed past the German Shepherd with no effort. He snatched the tennis ball in his mouth, tumbling over himself and landing on his behind with a huff, dazed. Percival slowed to a walk, releasing the dog equivalent of a chuckle. The husky stood but staggered to the side dizzily, canines still fixed into the ball determinedly, before he bounded exuberantly back towards the amused blonde.

“You are adorable,” Felicity said honestly, smile growing when Oliver dropped the ball, tail wagging happily and tongue lolling out of his mouth. “And I know you hate me saying that, but truly, you are the cutest thing.”

He sniffed, ears swivelling back in slightly disdain, but his excitement instantly reignited as soon as Felicity scooped up the tennis ball from the grass again, his entire body wiggling. Felicity laughed. Now this - this was happy Oliver. And happy Oliver was her favourite Oliver.

They spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon mucking around the in park together with their chosen family. Lance and Diggle enjoyed throwing the tennis ball between them over a long distance with Percival and Oliver bolting back and forth after the airborne ball. They found a small pond in the centre of the park, where Lyla and little Sara fed the ducks, and Oliver pranced around at the edge, yelping as the cold water bit into his paws until he couldn’t take it any longer and scurried back to Felicity, wanting cuddles. Thea and Laurel bought them all ice cream. The younger Queen sibling especially had fun feeding Oliver his own cone, giggling as the husky covered his face with the melted cream whilst wolfing it down, cone and all.

Felicity hadn’t felt so happy and free since she and Oliver had enjoyed a couple weeks of vacation in Bali during their round-the-world road-trip. The fact that she was seeing Oliver have fun and appreciate life as it was, despite having suffered so much in the last week, filled her with joy.

As late afternoon arrived, dusk setting in, the rest of the team departed; Lance and Percival back to the precinct, Laurel to a DA meeting, Lyla and Sara to mother and child yoga, and Thea and Diggle to the Lair in preparation for a night patrol. Oliver seemed tired after such an exhausting morning, so Felicity decided it would be better for them both to head home, relax in the evening, and get everything ready for Oliver’s transformation back into human form.

The husky, when asked about how he felt about turning back, acted strangely indifferent to the idea, but Felicity could tell that Oliver was itching in this skin after being stuck as a vulnerable puppy for a week. The archer was desperate to get back to being his normal, tall, broody handsome self, with functional strong emotional barriers and mental resilience.

They ate a quick meal of burgers and chips, Felicity ordering in, as she couldn’t cook to save her life, and then cuddled together as they watched some more Steven Universe episodes before trudging up the stairs to bed for an early night.

Felicity conked out within ten minutes of her head hitting the pillow, Oliver curled up next to her with his paws resting atop her stomach and legs. Judging by Oliver’s calm, regulated breathing, the husky drifted off to sleep around the same time that the blonde did, rumbling his ‘ _I love you_ ’s as he had done for the last week. As she dreamt, the blonde felt as if she was floating in mid-air, feeling secured by a fierce uplift of warm wind, but also as if she was unsupported and falling, due to her legs and arms flailing. It hit her mid-way through the strange dream that this helplessness must have been akin to what Oliver felt like in his puppy form - as if he was running on a treadmill, struggling to keep up, but also running too fast at exactly the same time, if that were somehow possible.

She startled awake, bolting upright with a sleepy snort as a loud crash from downstairs sounded. Immediately, Felicity scrambled to grab at the bedside table for her glasses, shoving them onto her face with a groan as she impacted her nose pretty badly. Eyesight now unimpaired, she blinked around the bedroom groggily, trying to determine what was going on. Fear and confusion rammed into her as she realised that Oliver was absent from the bed.

Jumping up, she shouted out, “Oliver?!” frantically, yanking on her dressing gown.

She waited for a moment, expecting a yowl or whine in response, but Felicity’s eyes widened and a gasp tore through her throat when instead of a canine-esque growl or howl, a very human sounding moan shattered the silence. She’d totally forgotten for a brief moment that tonight was the night Oliver was set to transform back in her muddled, tired state of mind.

Felicity yelled out, “Hold on, honey, I’m coming!” and practically threw herself down the stairs, running through the darkness to slam on the lights. She had to rub and blink at her eyes desperately in order to get over the glare after being adjusted to the pitch black, but as soon as her eyesight focused and she was able to scan the room, she whispered tearfully, “Oh god, _Oliver_.”

Oliver was coiled up on the freezing floor, completely naked, and shaking head to toe. His breaths were coming out in tiny rasps as he trembled, fingernails scratching at his arms as the archer choked on every inhalation of air. His cerulean eyes were remarkably clear, not glazed over as they usually became during a panic attack, but they were filled with pain, bemusement and terror. Felicity could physically feel her heart clenching agonisingly in her chest as she caught sight of the tears dotting her boyfriend’s pale cheeks.

She hurried over to him, instinctively going to touch him to comfort him. He flinched at first, letting out a distressed noise. Felicity began shushing him gently, using her dressing gown sleeves to wipe away his tears as she shed it and covered him with it. God, he was shivering so much; it was most likely due to his body not being accustomed to having no fur after a week of having a thick pelt to keep him warm.

As soon as her fingers brushed up against his cheeks, however, thumbs glancing over them delicately, Oliver seemed to crack. His sobs grew louder and his arms extended, reaching out for her. Pulling the shaking archer into her arms, Felicity repeatedly pressed light kisses over his face and the crown of his head, trying to calm him down. 

Oliver’s voice croaked and broke from disuse as he whined, “ _Fe-li-ci-tyyyyy,_ ” nuzzling his head underneath her chin - just like he did when he was a husky puppy.

Obviously, the puppy habits were going to remain for a while, but she didn’t mind - both of them were usually quite quirky anyway, and if Oliver needed time to recover and re-accustom to human life to get rid of those habits, she would provide him with the love and support he deserved. He was still reeling from all his mental issues and recent suffering; just because his mental barriers were back up, didn’t mean he wasn’t still going to be struggling with his emotions.

“I’ve got you, sweetheart, I’m right here, I’ve got you,” she whispered, rubbing his bare back sympathetically. “You’re safe, you’re okay. I’ve got you.”

Oliver clung to her like a small child craving consolation and human contact, whimpering into her shoulder. “ _Fe-li-ci-tyyyyy,_ ” he mewled. “‘M col’.”

“You’re cold?”

He nodded, swallowing and coughing due to his dry throat.

“Okay, honey, do you think we could make it to the couch? You’re gonna be unsteady on two legs so the stairs are definitely a no-go. We can go to bed down here tonight.”

Felicity managed to help Oliver over to the couch, but it was an arduous, exhausting task. Oliver could barely stand, his balance completely thrown off due to getting used to using four legs instead of two, and as soon as he took his first step, his legs buckled beneath him. Tears sprung to his eyes again and she could see how he was trying to hold them back, control his emotions. “Hurts,” he sobbed, trembling hands brushing over the burns that littered his skin; they were now appearing severely blistered and red as there was no fur covering them.

“I know, baby,” she murmured sadly. “I’ll go get Caitlin’s burn cream and painkillers for you, okay? I’ll get some blankets and water for you too. I’ll be just a minute.”

“No!” he shouted, grabbing her wrist within a weak grip. Oliver’s eyes were wild with concern and terror. “Don’ leave me! Pleas’ don’ leave me!”

“I won’t even leave the room,” Felicity promised, tracing gentle circles over the undersides of his wrists with his thumbs. “I’ll stay in sight the entire time.”

He still looked worried, but he licked his dry lips and nodded cautiously. Felicity moved as rapidly as possible, scrounging up blankets, a glass of water and all of Oliver’s medication from the kitchen, hoping that he wouldn’t get upset before she could return to his side.

“How many blankets do you want?” she questioned quietly, concerned with how he was still shivering, despite being covered with her warm dressing gown.

“All ‘dem,” Oliver rasped.

Felicity started spreading them over him without any hesitation, until all five blankets she’d had in her arms were wrapped around her boyfriend. It would probably be better for her to run upstairs and grab some boxer briefs, sweatpants and a t-shirt for him, but since Oliver was getting anxious with her simply across the room from him, the blonde wasn’t even going to risk it. Settling down beside him, she tucked the blankets tighter around him before passing the glass of water.

His hands were shaking so much she had to support him as he grasped the glass and drank from it, gulping the water down greedily as he took his pills. When Oliver shot her a pleading look for more, Felicity rose without him even having to ask to refill it at the sink.

When she turned back to him with the refilled glass, her stomach dropped, a sick feeling washing over her. Oliver had pushed off the blankets in order to examine the itchy, burnt area on his stomach, and was now staring down blankly at the word branded into the skin there with horrified shock.

“Worthless,” he whispered, reading the branded word as he traced it with his fingertips, and tears trailed down his cheeks as a raw, agonised noise ripped from his chest.

“No, no, stop,” Felicity ordered, casting the glass of water to the counter as she darted over to him so she could halt his scratching at the wound. She grabbed his hands, yanking them away, and nearly sobbed herself as he made a whimpering sound. “Oliver, please, don’t hurt yourself, you’ll just make the burns worse.”

“I’m worthless!” he cried out.

“Oliver, you are _not worthless_. What they did, whatever they said to you - it is _not true_ , and you do _not_ deserve it. You are not worthless, you are everything to me,” Felicity insisted firmly.

He shook his head. He pointed at himself, appearing devastated. “No. Worthless.”

“ _No._ Don’t you _dare_ say that,” she said fiercely. “Don’t you _dare_ believe that.”

Oliver looked like a kicked puppy. Felicity decided the best remedy for that was to hug him. He didn’t seem to have any qualms with the blonde touching him, so with his permission, Felicity slid into the archer’s lap and initiated a cuddle session. It took a while for Oliver to properly calm down and relax, but eventually he fell half-asleep with his head resting on Felicity’s shoulder.

“Thank you for looking after me this week,” he sighed.

“You’re welcome. It was a pleasure. You know, you were a very adorable puppy.”

His lips twitched up in a split second smile. Felicity considered that a win. “I know. Everybody said so.”

“Everybody _adored_ you.”

“I adore you,” he muttered.

She smiled. “I love you too,” Felicity replied. “Would you be okay with Caitlin popping over tomorrow to give you a quick medical check up?”

He nodded into her shoulder. “I don’t want Cisco or Barry here though.” Oliver heaved another sigh. “I was bad, wasn’t I?”

“What do you mean?”

“Mentally. Emotionally. I didn’t have any control.”

“That’s not necessarily bad.”

“I think I had more panic attacks this week than I’ve had for the rest of the year,” Oliver mumbled, sounding ashamed.

“Oliver, you can’t blame yourself for that.”

An upset expression passed over his face. “I’m damaged. I’m a burden to you and the team. Maybe you’d be better off without me.”

Felicity inhaled slowly and exhaled, trying to regain power over her emotions. His words made her massively angry and disturbed, but she managed to hide it, keeping her expression carefully schooled. “Oliver, that is very not true and you know that, but I’m going to pass that off as emotional distress, play-up of your depression and PTSD, and exhaustion after such a trying week.”

“I don’t feel like myself,” the archer said, squirming agitatedly. “Felicity, I don’t - I don’t think I know who I am anymore. I don’t know if I can be the same person from before.”

“Nobody is expecting you to be the same,” she soothed.

“But I want to be the same!” he exploded. “I don’t want to _feel_ like this, I don’t want to be all… _compromised_ and overly emotional and sappy.” He shuddered. “Oh god, being stuck as a puppy has fucked me up permanently, hasn’t it?”

“Don’t say that!” Felicity scowled, hitting him gently in the shoulder. “What have we said about putting yourself down?!”

“Don’t do it?”

“Exactly.”

Oliver exhaled tiredly. “I’m never going to be able to forget this.”

Felicity narrowed her eyes and gazed at him intently for a moment. After a second, she stood and crossed the room to pick something up from the counter and carry it back over. She dropped into his lap and pressed the object into his hands, forcing him to hold it.

“No, you won’t forget what happened,” she said. “But maybe you shouldn’t.” She tapped the object. “I know I’m not going to.”

It was a framed photograph of Oliver, the first day he was a puppy, taken on one of the team’s camera phones. It had appeared in the Loft sometime over the last week, most likely Diggle or Laurel’s work. It was absolutely adorable, and seeing it made Felicity grin.

“Why couldn’t I have been something big and ferocious?” Oliver muttered. “Like a wolf? Or a lion? Or a bear?” He shook his head. “It was _humiliating_ being a puppy.”

“... Oliver -”

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” he cut in. “Can we please go to sleep? I’m exhausted.”

“Sure.” She was internally very concerned about how Oliver was coping with this mentally, but if he was tired and truly wanted to rest, she wouldn’t stop him. Felicity rose quickly to switch off the lights, and returned to snuggle down on top of the archer’s chest as they both lay on the couch. “Goodnight, sweetheart.”

“Goodnight.”

A beat passed.

“I love you,” Oliver whispered.

“I love you too,” Felicity smiled.

Their silence stretched out into another minute before Oliver interrupted it, saying, “Felicity?”

“Hmm?”

“We’re not getting a dog in the future. _Ever_.”

“Hmm. We’ll see about that.”

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed this tale!
> 
> I'd really appreciate if you left a comment at the very end of the work after completing the last chapter, telling me about your experience reading this fic. It would definitely motivate me as a writer and motivate me to write the epilogues a lot faster! 
> 
> Tumblr: @alexiablackbriar13  
> Twitter: @lexiblackbriar


	11. Epilogue (1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know... I'm late... really late... but at least I'm here.
> 
> Hope you enjoy this first epilogue!
> 
> Just so all of you know - all of the epilogues are going to be in different character POVs that we haven't seen before. If you want to suggest any POVs you'd be interested in, in your comment, feel free!
> 
> Hope you enjoy xx
> 
> ( **Trigger Warnings** : Discussion and description of depression, anxiety and PTSD. Discussion and description of self-harm.)

“I need you to do more tests please.”

“Oliver, I’ve done all the tests I can possibly think of. There are no more tests to do.”

“Then can we please redo the tests?”

Caitlin Snow sighed, turning away to start collecting the equipment she would need to complete another round of blood tests and a soft tissue biopsy. This was the fourth time the Green Arrow had turned up at STAR Labs unexpectedly, requesting to have a full medical check-up performed, in the last month. It had been several months since Oliver had transformed back from his puppy form into his normal human body, and he was seriously not handling it very well.

According to Felicity, Oliver was hardly sleeping. He was withdrawn, hypervigilant, and depressed constantly. Panic attacks and anxiety episodes plagued him daily. But his mental health was not of his concern. The archer was convinced that something was wrong with him physically; it was this mindset that resulted in him making frequent visits to STAR Labs, and specifically, to see Caitlin, in order to get himself checked over. Frankly, the doctor was getting tired of this whole routine she and Oliver had going. She would run every available medical test on him, they would all come up clean, she could declare him healthy, he would leave - and then two weeks later, he would turn up again, asking to be looked at again.

Oliver was always reasonably physically healthy, apart from reasonably high blood pressure and improperly healed bones from his five years of hell. The doctor had no idea how many times she was going to have to insist to the archer that it was a mental problem, and not a physical one, that was affecting him. But Caitlin was clueless as to why Oliver thought something was wrong with him at all. The Green Arrow was certainly a tight-lipped man, and despite Caitlin’s promises of doctor-patient confidentiality, he refused to inform her as to his reasons for consistently coming to her. He just always asked to have a full round of tests. It obviously had something to do with his time spent as a husky puppy, but she knew nothing beyond that. It was especially frustrating for her, because she knew she couldn’t properly help Oliver if she wasn’t aware of the entire picture.

“Thank you for doing this, Dr. Snow,” Oliver said wearily, taking his usual spot seated on the Cortex medical bed. “I’m sorry for being such a problem for you.”

He appeared haggard and exhausted, with dark bags under his dull blue eyes and short, rugged stubble. His posture was slumped, as if it ached for him to sit up, and Caitlin was sure he’d lost weight since she’d last seen him. She would have to call Felicity and question her about Oliver’s eating habits.

“It’s no problem, Oliver,” she answered. “ _You’re not a problem_. You could never be a problem. And I thought I told you to call me Caitlin?”

“Oh. Right.” He glanced down at his hands in his lap, fingers fiddling nervously as he kicked his feet back and forth, so they swung underneath the bed. “Sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize. Roll your sleeve up, please?”

He obeyed her without question, rolling up the sleeve of his left arm to expose his forearm and bicep. The doctor prepped his arm with a tourniquet and antiseptic wipe before taking four vials of blood. Oliver remained silent and motionless as Caitlin administered a local anesthetic, took a small biopsy and then sutured the wound up, bandaging it. It was disconcerting how quiet the archer was during the operation, simply lying on the medical bed and staring up at the ceiling blankly. For a brief second, Caitlin wished Barry and Cisco hadn’t destroyed that mind reading machine they’d snagged off one of the bad guys they’d shut down. It really would have helped in this sort of situation.

“Alright, that’s done,” she announced quietly. “I’ll quickly go and put the samples into the analyzing software, and then we’ll start on X-rays, okay?”

He nodded, closing his eyes. Hating to leave him on his own, the doctor quickly headed into her lab and began processing the samples. It only took five minutes, but she was relieved to return to the Cortex to find that Cisco was keeping Oliver company. The engineer was happily sucking on one of his cherry lollipops whilst excitedly telling the archer about some new trick arrows he’d been designing. Oliver was sitting cross-legged on the medical bed but seemed mildly interested, nodding every few seconds. He didn’t seem as spaced out as before, focusing on listening to some of Cisco’s suggestions. His fingers, however, were still rubbing together in his nervous tick. His eyes darted around the room every ten seconds. He was still on the alert, anxiety gnawing at him.

Seeing as how Cisco had the archer distracted, Caitlin silently stepped back into her lab and pulled her cell phone out. At first, she hesitated, but after shaking herself and insisting that this was a decent idea, especially due to the state Oliver currently was in, she dialed and waited.

As soon as the line connected, a voice sounded, “I finally managed to get a hold of Thea and Laurel and they’ve agreed to join us on Saturday for girls’ night, so at least it won’t be just the two of us.”

Laughing lightly, the doctor greeted, “Hey, Iris. That’s great news.”

“... Girls’ night isn’t what you called me to talk about, is it? What has Barry done now?”

“Why do you always assume I need to call you because Barry’s done something?”

“Because he usually messes something up and then you call me so that you don’t have to yell at him because you know I will.”

“That doesn’t happen.”

“That happened last week.”

“Okay, but he took Captain Cold and Heatwave for burgers with Hartley after they stole ten police dogs from the CCPD and he wasn’t listening to Cisco and me.” Caitlin frowned, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I’m getting off topic. Iris, you and Barry are staying at Joe’s at the moment, right?”

“Yep.”

“Do you think Joe would mind if Oliver stayed overnight with you?” the doctor questioned nervously.

There was a beat of silence and then Iris sounded sad as she asked, “He came back for more testing? Again?”

Caitlin sighed. “He’s going through something psychological right now and he wants more than anything for there to be a physiological reason for it. He doesn’t seem particularly stable mentally so I’m not comfortable with allowing him to ride back to Star on his bike.”

“Have you called Felicity?”

“He keeps asking me not to,” the doctor admitted. “He closes himself off to me even more when he finds out I’ve spoken to her about him. But at this point, I don’t know what else to do.”

“If you want, I can call her and ask her to come down tomorrow morning.”

“Would you? That would be amazing.”

“Yeah, of course! That way we can look after Oliver and make sure he’s alright and then Felicity can take him back to Star. What time should I tell Dad to expect you bringing him over?”

Caitlin checked the time. It was almost 3pm. “Um, around five, maybe? I’ve got to finish off X-rays and an MRI on him again.”

“Cool, okay. See you later.”

“Thank you, Iris. See you soon.”

Cisco was still rambling on enthusiastically about the trick arrows to the archer by the time Caitlin had tucked her cell phone away and entered back into the Cortex. Oliver, however, seemed to have reached the end of his tether; he was hunched in on himself, arms wrapped around himself tightly as he breathed harshly and shallowing, eyes squeezed shut as he tried to fend off the panic attack. The fact that he was managing to keep his entire body completely still except his hands, which were trembling as his thumbs rubbed against his forefingers in his nervous tick was enough to tell Caitlin that Oliver really didn’t want to break down in front of the engineer, wanting him to leave but being too polite to ask him to. His distress was going unnoticed by Cisco, so the doctor stepped in quickly.

“Cisco, can you go and prep the X-ray and MRI machines down in the med bay, please?”

“Aw, but I haven’t had the chance to tell Oliver about the firework arrows I’ve been working on yet!” he pouted.

“Cisco,” Caitlin hissed, looking pointedly at the archer before pointing to the exit.

Cisco finally seemed to realize what the archer’s current predicament was, because he hastily muttered his goodbyes before hurrying out of the room and around the corner, vanishing from sight. The moment that the engineer was gone, Caitlin carefully approached Oliver and stood in front of him, trying to seem friendly and unintimidating.

“Take deep breaths,” the doctor advised quietly.

Oliver’s eyes flitted up from where he’d been staring at the floor to gaze at her, and there was a wildness there due to his agitation. He was hyperventilating in panic. “I can’t,” he whispered, his voice choked and hoarse.

Caitlin believed him. She quickly wheeled over the oxygen tank and, after checking with the archer that he was okay with her touching him (he was uncomfortable with it, but he knew that she had to), the doctor pressed the mask to his face. She didn’t turn the machine on - with Oliver hyperventilating, he already had enough oxygen in his lungs, but she was hoping that this would sort of work as a placebo effect - the archer would think he was getting more oxygen and relax, his breathing slowing down. To her relief, her prediction came to fruition. Oliver’s breathing began leveling out to a normal, more even rate. His hand rested weakly on her forearm, squeezing ever so slightly. Shifting so she could slip her hand into his, Caitlin carefully checked Oliver’s pulse. Still a little too fast for her liking, but regulating.

“Better?” she asked softly.

He nodded, looking ashamed.

“You could have just told Cisco to leave. He wouldn’t have minded.”

“Didn’t know how to without sounding rude,” Oliver muttered.

“You don’t need to worry about sounding rude,” Caitlin informed him, pushing away the oxygen tank and wiping down the mask. “If somebody is encroaching on your space or you’re starting to feel overwhelmed, it’s perfectly okay for you to just tell them to leave you alone. If they’re a good friend and if they understand, they’ll listen.”

Oliver didn’t respond. She didn’t expect him too. Most likely he was thinking about how he didn’t deserve to have any friends, despite how absolutely false that was.

She snapped on new latex gloves, telling him gently, “I’m going to perform a quick physical assessment while Cisco sets up the equipment in the med bay. Shouldn’t take much longer than a couple of minutes, but I will need to feel along your ribs, spine and pelvis, just to check their alignment and for any irregularities. You’ll need to take off your shirt. Is that okay?”

When Caitlin usually asked the archer’s permission to do these sort of examinations, he normally agreed, even occasionally attempting some dark humor about the doctor having seen his scars before. That’s why, when Oliver hesitated, gaze skidding away to search for the exit anxiously, alarm bells went off in Caitlin’s head. The only reason why Oliver would be so reluctant to let the doctor check him over… was if there was something that he didn’t want her to see.

And if there was something on his body - something he’d done to his body - that he didn’t want Caitlin to see…

“Oliver, look at me.” He shook his head. “ _Oliver._ Please. Why don’t you want me to examine you? Have you done something to yourself that you don’t want me to see?”

He raised his eyes to meet hers, but cringed doing so, looking guilty and to her horror, afraid. He was nervous about her discovering whatever he was trying to hide from her. Oliver didn’t say anything, instead just angling himself away from her a little and wrapping his arms around his torso defensively.

“So you have,” Caitlin deduced. “But you’re scared of telling me. I’m not going to judge you for anything, Oliver. I just want to help you as a medical professional, alright?” It pained her to say it, but she added on the end, “I can’t make a decision of whether or not I need to tell Felicity and the rest of your team about whatever this is if you don’t show me.”

“You can’t tell them,” Oliver mumbled, finally speaking after several minutes of silence. He sounded so tired and defeated. “They’ll - they’ll freak out. They’ll say I can’t go out as the Green Arrow anymore but that’s the only thing that’s keeping me sane. I’ll get _worse_ if they try and stop me. They can’t know.”

“And Felicity?” Caitlin said softly. “What about her? Don’t you think she deserves to know about whatever’s going on with you? She cares about you, Oliver, she _loves_ you. Whatever this is that you don’t want to reveal to any of us, if it’s what I think it is, it’ll destroy her to know you’ve kept this to yourself and not gone to her for support.”

A choking, shuddering breath escaped his lips, accompanying a quiet sob. “I _want_ to tell her. I’ve always wanted to. I’ve tried to. But I can never get the words out. It’s too late now. She can’t know. She’ll leave me.”

“Whatever makes you think that?”

“I’m damaged. Broken. I can’t offer her anything in our relationship. I can’t function properly as a human being. I don’t deserve her, and I never will. What reason does she have to stay with me?”

“She loves you.”

“She shouldn’t.”

“You may believe that, but she doesn’t. Felicity _loves_ you, Oliver. That’s not going to change anytime soon.”

“She’ll be angry,” he said, dropping his head into his hands.

“Not angry. I think she’ll be more upset, to be honest. And relieved when she finally understands. You need to tell her what’s going on with you.” She inhaled, finally saying what had been on her mind for weeks now: “Don’t you think _I_ deserve to know what’s going on with you? You’ve been coming to me for weeks for medical help about something you won’t tell me about. You ask for every single test I can possibly do on you but don’t tell me what I should be looking for, or what you’re hoping to see, or not see. I can’t help you, Oliver. Not if you don’t communicate with me.”

The archer ran a shaky hand through his hair, sliding off the end of the medical bed so he could stand. He fumbled with the hem of his long-sleeved shirt for a moment. The intense concentration on his face told Caitlin that he was internally disputing whether or not he should come clean, or retreat back into his shell, so the doctor took a step back and didn’t push, waiting patiently.

“Okay, I’ll - I’ll show you, but you have to let me explain everything,” Oliver said, biting his lip.

Caitlin exhaled. “Thank you.”

After a second or two of steeling himself, the archer pulled his t-shirt over his head with a noticeable wince of pain.

The sight that the doctor was met with was one that made her feel physically sick to the stomach.

Her gaze was immediately drawn to the second-degree burns that spelled out the word ‘worthless’, and that was where the damage had been done. At this point, after weeks of their infliction, the burns should have healed up and scabbed over, but what horrified Caitlin was that the area was still inflamed and red, weeping slightly and bleeding. She struggled to stop her hands from shaking as she very cautiously examined the wounds, brushing her fingertips over the inflamed skin carefully as not to agitate it. The word had been etched into Oliver’s skin once again, but this time not by flames. He’d obviously taken a blade to himself and forcefully used a knife to carve the word back into the scar tissue. And by the amount and level of scar tissue present around the burns, the archer had cut himself multiple times.

Realising that she’d been staring in shocked silence for a couple of minutes, trying to get her head around the fact that Oliver was _self-harming,_ Caitlin quickly glanced up to check how the archer was doing. Oliver was standing perfectly still; he had his eyes closed tightly, hands balled into fists and stuck to his sides. He undoubtedly wanted to flinch away from her touch and appeared to be fighting his instincts to lash out as she touched the tender, painful area on his stomach, but Oliver seemed mostly in control of his emotions.

This was what Oliver had come to. Hurting himself because psychologically, he was suffering so much that physical pain was preferable. She’d known that his time as a husky puppy had messed with his head, but… he must have been traumatized. Felicity had never mentioned anything about Oliver actively self-harming before. They had it on record that the archer suffered from PTSD, anxiety and depression, but that was it. That depression had never resulted in him cutting himself before, to their knowledge, so Caitlin had to reckon this was the first time he’d done it. But how much mental turmoil did he have to be in to decide that _this_ was the answer? How guilty and ashamed of himself did he have to feel to stay silent in the face of his hardships, to believe that he couldn’t tell his loved ones and friends? Oliver didn’t deserve this. But he thought he did. Which was the most heartbreaking part of it.

“Is it okay if I ask you questions?” Caitlin whispered, a lump in her throat as she turned away to start fetching the equipment she would need.

Oliver bobbed his head in a nod.

“When did you start doing this? And how many times have you done this?”

He swallowed. A tremor in his voice, the archer admitted quietly, “Started maybe a week after I turned back. Done it six times so far. I’ve always waited until the cuts have healed before coming here before.”

Caitlin nodded, managing to maintain her calm facade whilst internally she was screaming, _he’s deliberately cut into his own flesh half a dozen times, he’s a risk to himself, he needs to be put on suicide watch, hospitalization is an option at this point_. “The wounds don’t look infected to me, but a swab test from the site might say otherwise. Have you been cleaning them out?”

“Yeah, I’ve been using a chemically cleaned blade when doing them and then cleaning the wounds with antiseptic afterward.”

“No bandage?”

“Felicity would notice,” he mumbled. “She’s already suspicious enough that I’ve been sleeping in a t-shirt.”

“What have you been saying as an explanation for that?”

“No fur anymore. I get… cold… easily. If I wore a bandage under the t-shirt - she would definitely notice.”

“I’m guessing she doesn’t know.”

It was the wrong thing to say. Oliver’s eyes filled with tears and he began trembling, but said nothing.

“Does anybody know?” she asked gently, taking a small sample of the flesh of the wound to test before starting to clean it with antiseptic on a gauze pad.

Oliver barely flinched, just looking away. He shook his head, fiddling with his hands. “Nobody can know.”

“Why not? Don’t you think somebody should? You need _help_ , Oliver.”

“Don’t deserve help,” he whispered.

“Have you been going to see the therapist that Lyla set up for you at ARGUS?”

The archer hung his head.

That was enough of a response for Caitlin to interpret. “Why not?”

“It’s the same psychiatrist that Waller made me see back when she was forcing me to work for her,” he said. “They drugged me without my consent last time. I don’t want to go back.”

“You are aware that Lyla probably doesn’t know that, right? Or if she does know that, she didn’t assign them to you. She would never do that to you, Oliver.”

He shrugged. Caitlin couldn’t help but feel slightly frustrated. The archer was isolating himself, deliberately not taking up the help offered by his friends and family, and actively self-harming. He hadn’t spoken to anybody. She was beginning to think he might not be just self-destructive - Oliver might be suicidal.

Oliver must have read the expression on her face, because he offered, “I’m not suicidal. I wouldn’t take my own life. This is… this is as far as I’ll go. It’s just a depressive episode.”

“This seems to me like a hell of a lot more than just a depressive episode. I’m not going to ask you why you’ve been doing this to yourself, because I know you won’t answer. All I need to know is whether or not the whole turned into a puppy thing was a factor that resulted in you feeling the way you do that urges you to cut.”

Without any hesitation, Oliver agreed, “Yes.”

Applying a dressing over the wounds and making sure it would stay attached, Caitlin passed the archer’s shirt back to him. “How did that make you feel?”

To her surprise, the archer released a bitter laugh, yanking his shirt back and crossing his arms across his chest. There was a fierceness in his expression now, combined with a mental exhaustion and anger that made the doctor wary of what Oliver was going to do. He was already on edge - he could lash out at her at any second. “I was transformed into a puppy for a week. I was dehumanized and treated like a _pet_ , Caitlin, and then I was kidnapped and tortured. The entire time, I was completely _helpless_. Then the Ghosts _branded_ me as worthless, and that was exactly what I was to the team at that point. I couldn’t control any of my emotions or keep my mental health in check. I was a liability - I was dead weight, and vulnerable, and I couldn’t even protect myself from a single Ghost - couldn’t even stop a simple panic attack. How the fuck do you think it made me feel?”

They did nothing but stare at each other for a moment or two. Caitlin held her breath. Although Oliver hadn’t moved from his spot in front of the medical bed, he was intimidating when he was furious - and he had a right to be. She’d asked a pretty stupid question, because how else would Oliver feel apart from absolutely awful after such an ordeal?

The archer deflated. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have shouted.”

“No, I’m glad you did,” Caitlin said honestly. “Because I think that’s the first time you’ve truly expressed your emotions about what happened to you since you turned back, and you needed that release. You seem pretty clued up about the mental effect the event had on you, so I’ve got to ask, why do you keep coming here for physiological tests?”

“There are things happening to me… aftereffects of what happened… which are having a mental and physical effect, changing my behavior… and I don’t know what to do or how to stop it.”

Caitlin sighed. “Sit down,” she said tiredly. “We have a lot to talk about.”

* * *

Caitlin and Oliver rolled up the West house around six o’clock, an hour later than they were supposed to. Caitlin was exhausted, mostly due to the fact she had spent the last couple of hours playing therapist. At least now she properly understood why the archer had been coming to her for all those weeks - and she could begin to help him in ways that she knew would work. Luckily, all of Oliver’s blood work and his wound site swab had come back in the clear; he was fine apart from some low-level anaemia and ion deficiencies due to his poor diet and lack of sleep as of late, and a high white blood cell count, although that was due to his current wounds, Caitlin reckoned. They would have arrived even later if they’d decided to go ahead with the X-rays and MRI scans, but after Oliver had opened up to her, the doctor had decided they weren’t necessary. She finally knew exactly what was wrong with him, and what they needed to do to aid him in his recovery.

“Hey, Caitlin! Oliver!” Barry greeted them cheerfully when they knocked on the door. “Come inside, you’re just in time, we’re about to start dinner. Wanna join us?”

“Oh, no, that’s not -” Oliver started, but Caitlin cut him off by loudly clearing her throat and staring at him pointedly. He flushed. “That would be wonderful, thank you, Barry.”

“Great! I’ll go and ask Iris to fetch two extra plate settings.” The speedster zipped off into the kitchen leaving a trail of yellow lightning sparks. It was so unnecessary that Caitlin had to roll her eyes, amused.

Oliver immediately turned back to the doctor. “I feel like I’m intruding -”

“You’re not,” Caitlin told him firmly, gently prodding him in the shoulder to urge him forwards and towards the living room. “Barry invited you. You’re allowed to say yes. Remember, you are _not_ wasting somebody’s time if they ask to hang out with you.”

“Doesn’t feel that way,” the archer mumbled.

He instantly straightened, however, plastering a fake smile on his face when Iris hurried up to them both, hugging Caitlin and then cautiously offering Oliver a hug as well. Oliver held himself stiffly, but he accepted the embrace. It was a little bit upsetting how confused he seemed that he was being hugged by Iris. After isolating himself and rejecting the touch and help from others for so long, having somebody hold him who wasn’t Felicity was probably quite disconcerting for him.

“Hi!” Iris welcomed them, her smile bright. “It’s so good to see you again, Oliver!”

“Likewise,” he returned. “Thank you for letting Caitlin and I stay for dinner.”

“It’s a pleasure!”

Joe West entered the room, cans of soda in his hands. His eyebrows raised up at the sight of both Caitlin and Oliver, and the doctor winced when she caught sight of the archer shrinking back into his shell a little bit. Joe had acted hostile towards Oliver before and let it be known that his opinion of him was not a nice one. Caitlin couldn’t blame Oliver for wanting to be cautious.

“Detective West,” Oliver said, uncertainty in his voice. “Thank you for letting us come around.”

“Queen.” Joe nodded his head curtly. A smirk spread across his face slowly. “Got yourself back on two feet, I see. Must be preferable to four paws.”

Caitlin lunged out to grab Oliver’s wrist, stopping him from wheeling around and making a hasty exit of the room, because she knew from what they’d just talked about that would be exactly what he wanted to do. The archer grimaced and tugged against her hold. His pained expression almost prompted the doctor to release him, but she didn’t want him running. He had run away from his problems enough over the last couple of weeks. If he couldn’t address them head-on, he was never going to start his mental recovery.

“What did we just discuss?” she whispered.

He shook his head, a small whimper-like noise escaping his lips. As soon as the sound was released, his eyes slammed shut. It seemed to take a lot of effort for Oliver to say, “Caitlin, I _can’t_.”

“Oliver, you _can_. C’mon. You can do this.”

He inhaled deeply. Caitlin quickly snuck a glance over at Joe, Iris and Barry, who both appeared confused. They didn’t understand that Oliver was on the edge of a mental breakdown, fortunately.

“Please… can we not… talk about what happened?” the archer managed.

Joe’s eyebrows shot up, but after Caitlin aimed a pointed look towards him, the man’s expression seemed to soften slightly. “Sure,” he said, before turning and walking off to the kitchen, Iris and Barry hurrying behind to join him.

“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” the doctor asked him quietly.

“Easy for you to say,” the archer muttered, glancing over at her with a nauseous expression. He gently lowered himself onto one of the couches, holding himself tensely with his hands placed over his lap. He managed to keep his voice steady as he questioned, “When is Felicity getting here?”

Caitlin regarded Oliver carefully. “I’m not sure,” she replied. “I’ll go and ask Barry and Iris. Will you be okay to stay here by yourself?”

He nodded, tipping his head onto the back of the couch and closing his eyes. “I’m not going to try anything,” he reassured her.

The doctor bit her lip, but nodded back. Caitlin trusted that Oliver wouldn’t try to hurt himself while in Joe’s house, especially not with so many people in the next room. Squeezing the archer’s shoulder lightly as she walked past him, Caitlin left Oliver sitting on the couch as he headed into the kitchen. Joe looked up from where he was stirring carbonara pasta in a large cooking pot; Iris and Barry, who were sorting out cutlery and plates while watching over the garlic bread in the oven, exchanged glances and put the plates down on the counter, sliding over to the doctor.

“Is Oliver okay?” Barry asked in a whisper. “He does _not_ seem okay.”

Aware that the archer might overhear them due to his superior hearing developed on the island, Caitlin kept her voice low and quiet as she responded, “I don’t think he’s been okay for a long time now. Look, Barry, I hate to ask you this, but could you please run to Starling and pick up Felicity after we eat dinner? She and Oliver need to have a very difficult conversation and I’d rather we all be here to help handle any potential fallout than for them to talk alone.”

If possible, Iris appeared even more worried. “Caitlin, what’s going on with Oliver?”

The doctor sighed. “I can’t say. Doctor-patient confidentiality.”

“But it’s bad enough that Felicity needs to be rushed here,” Joe said.

“Without disclosing anything, on a scale of one to ten, one being completely fine and happy and ten being mental breakdown, where is Oliver at right now?” Barry questioned.

Exhaling, Caitlin scratched the back of her neck as she admitted, “Probably fifteen.”

“Shit,” Iris muttered. “He’s self-harming, isn’t he?”

Caitlin blinked in shock. “Iris…”

“He flinched when I hugged him,” she continued, looking immensely sad. “And he looked like he was in pain when I accidentally brushed against his stomach when I pulled away. And he’s past the point of mental breakdown - he’s hurting himself.”

Joe and Barry stared at Iris with wide, astonished eyes and slowly turned to Caitlin.

Caitlin leaned forwards so she could peer around the three of them, checking that Oliver was still seated on the couch. The archer had shuffled into the corner and was lying against the armrest, legs drawn up to his chest protectively. He appeared to be on the verge of falling asleep due to his exhaustion, his breathing even but shallow.

Reassured that Oliver wasn’t listening in, the doctor confirmed quietly, “Yes, he’s hurting himself. Has been since he turned back from a puppy into a human. Felicity doesn’t know.”

“That’s why she needs to be brought here as soon as possible.” The speedster rubbed at his eyes, breath hitching as he spoke. The doctor grimaced; she knew that Barry would take this hard. He viewed Oliver as a big brother, a mentor. Knowing that the archer was harming himself was definitely going to upset the speedster. “Because he needs to tell her. Oh god, Felicity is going to be devastated.”

“I know. That’s what Oliver is most worried about, I think. He thinks he doesn’t deserve to be loved, and he’s terrified Felicity is going to leave him the moment she learns he’s been struggling mentally.”

“Felicity would _never_ leave him,” Barry shook his head, aghast.

“Oliver knows that deep down, but right now he’s not in the best headspace,” Iris told him.

The timer for the oven went off, shrill beeping echoing through the house. Caitlin winced when she heard a crash from the living room, Oliver obviously having been startled by the sudden loud noise. Joe looked a little annoyed, but Iris motioned for him to stay in the kitchen and help Barry out with all the food. She and the doctor quietly went to go and check on the archer.

Oliver was carefully picking up a small coffee table he’d knocked over, that thankfully didn’t have anything particularly breakable on top of it. He shot them a sheepish and guilty glance, murmuring, “Sorry.”

“Should have warned you about the timer,” Iris said, with a smile on her face to show him that she wasn’t angry.

“I didn’t break anything,” Oliver added hastily. He cast his gaze onto the floor nervously. “At least I think I didn’t. If I did, I - I can pay for it -”

“Oliver, it’s _fine_ ,” Iris reassured him. “Come and sit down with us, we’re just about to eat now.”

Nodding, the archer followed Iris to the table, his fingers rubbing his thumbs in his anxious tick. He only slid into his seat when Caitlin carefully placed a hand on his shoulder, making sure not to surprise him, and urged him to sit down. The doctor took a chair opposite him so she could observe him throughout the dinner, worried that Oliver might work himself up into a bad mental state. He knew that he was going to have to open up to Felicity later, after so long keeping secrets from her out of fear of her leaving or being mad at him. It was a given that Oliver and Felicity’s discussion was going to be tough and very emotionally draining; Felicity was definitely going to upset and afraid for Oliver and Caitlin suspected that the archer wasn’t going to entirely know how to process that. He seemed to be coping quite well at the moment, however, remaining calm and collected.

Whilst they were eating, Caitlin noticed that Oliver didn’t speak much. He made a couple of short comments to Joe, Iris and Barry about how tasty the food was and how nice the house was, but apart from that, he mostly stayed quiet. Caitlin was content to let him exclude himself from their group conversations due to her knowing he was most likely deep in thought.

It was as they were finishing up, stacking the empty plates and getting ready to take them back to the kitchen, that Oliver had an extremely strange reaction. Well… not so strange in Caitlin’s eyes, because she knew what was going on. But Joe, Iris and Barry were freaked out.

The archer froze. Slowly, he turned his head to face the window and stared for a moment.

“Oliver?” Iris frowned, spotting the intense look on his face as she reached over to refill his water glass.

“What does she mean?” he muttered under his breath. “Who’s Eric?”

“Eric?” Barry repeated, confused.

The archer glanced back at them, a look of pure concentration on his face. “Does somebody called Eric live on this street?”

“Yeah, Eric Goldsmith,” Joe replied. He looked weirded out, eyeing him warily. Caitlin knew why. He was wondering how exactly Oliver knew that. “Not anymore though.”

“He moved out,” Oliver said. “He left… last week? The house is unoccupied. It hasn’t been bought yet.”

Joe blinked at him in shock. “How the hell do you know that?”

“He left her,” Oliver continued, his questioning tone morphing into one of anger and frustration. “He just… _left her_. Humans are awful.” He stood up suddenly, shoving his chair back a couple feet with the force that he straightened up with. Caitlin watched in alarm as he stormed towards the front door. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

He exited the house and all four of them hurried to the window to watch him run down the street until Oliver was out of sight.

“Um… should I follow him?” Barry questioned, little flashes of yellow lightning already sparking around his feet as he prepared to run. 

The doctor bit her lip, but shook her head with a sigh. “No,” she decided. “He’ll come back.”

“What was he talking about?” Iris asked, looking concerned. “Eric… leaving somebody? A ‘her’ of some kind?”

“I think I know what he’s talking about,” Caitlin responded. “But we’ll have to wait until he gets back to be certain.”

Ten minutes passed and Oliver returned, just as the doctor had predicted. He did not, however, return alone. As he re-entered the house, the archer was delicately carrying a beautiful cat in his arms. It had sleek silver fur with black leopard-like spots, and intense, burning green eyes. The cat was purring, rubbing its face on Oliver’s shoulder as its tail flicked back and forth across his arm, and… Oliver seemed to be purring back at it. Barry, Iris and Joe stared at him in utter disbelief as the archer closed the front door behind him lightly and carefully took a seat on one of the couches, stroking the cat as it clambered down onto his lap, curling up there happily.

“This is Cleo,” Oliver introduced the cat, giving a couple of quiet chuffs afterward to attract the cat’s attention, as it - _she_ \- had been starting to wander off a bit.

“Did you just break into that property and take that cat?” Joe asked, aghast.

“She was trapped inside,” Oliver informed him. “Eric Goldsmith moved out but decided to leave her behind. Took off her collar and locked her out so people would think she’s a stray. She managed to squeeze under the porch and get back inside the house through a half-broken floorboard, but she couldn’t get back out.”

“How do you know all of that?” Iris questioned.

Scratching under Cleo’s chin gently, Oliver replied in a fake nonchalant voice, “She told me.”

So Caitlin’s suspicions were correct.

Oliver had finally confessed everything that had been going on with him since turning back into a human a few hours ago, and one of the things he’d told her was that he’d somehow retained the ability to understand and talk to animals. Although he was back in human form _physically_ , his dog instincts and senses hadn’t faded. He still wanted to be petted and given affection and got the urge to mark and protect his territory, and the people he cared about. He still got hit with the urge to growl if he was threatened, or whine if he was scared. Apparently, a couple of weeks ago Oliver had got into a small fight with Diggle and had to dig his nails into his wrists to stop himself from rolling over onto his back in a submissive pose. All of the archer’s senses, especially his hearing and sense of smell, were heightened, which was good in some aspects; it gave him an extra edge when he was out in the field as the Green Arrow. But put Oliver onto a crowded street or in the middle of an argument and he would very quickly become overwhelmed and almost collapse in a sensory overload.

He’d been self-harming as a well to deal with the mental and emotional stress all of the aftereffects had been putting him through, because he hadn’t had any idea what was going on with him. He’d kept on returning to STAR Labs hoping that Caitlin would tell him that the meta was still affecting him somehow, and that everything ‘wrong’ with him could be fixed. Caitlin, not knowing this was all going on, hadn’t known what she should have been testing for. When Oliver had finally spilled about everything, the doctor had immediately put him through the tests that needed to be done, ones she hadn’t even considered before - and got an answer. Miniscule pieces of dark matter were still inside of him, the meta’s powers having been so strongly used on the archer that they’d been infused into Oliver’s DNA permanently. It had been horrible to reveal to Oliver that nothing could be done to ‘fix’ him, but the archer had just been relieved he finally knew what was going on.

“Wait, can you _talk to that cat?_ ” Barry whisper-shouted, snapping Caitlin out of her thoughts. “What the hell, man!? You can understand it and communicate with it?”

“She’s not an it,” Oliver huffed. “Her name is Cleo.”

Barry turned to Caitlin with an expression of complete befuddlement. “Did you know about this!?”

“He told me today,” she admitted.

Iris waved her hand in front of Barry, motioning for him to shut up. “Is Oliver a meta?”

“I… guess he sort of is now,” Caitlin said. “When that metahuman turned Oliver into a puppy, without realizing it, they sort of gave Oliver a little bit of their powers.”

“That can happen?” Joe questioned.

“Obviously,” the doctor shrugged, nodding at the archer, who was still focusing on stroking the cat in his lap. “I’ve got Cisco looking into it.”

The cat meowed loudly, batting at Oliver’s fingers. Everybody fell into a hush and paused in place, gazing down at the couch’s human occupant and his new friend. Purring back at the cat, Oliver frowned when the cat mewed softly in response. Caitlin could only watch in fascination as the archer modified his behavior and body movements to communicate with Cleo, twitching his nose and blinking. How Oliver knew exactly what to do in order to change what he was attempting to say to the cat was a mystery.

“Cleo’s hungry,” Oliver announced.

“I can get her a bowl of milk,” Iris offered.

“She’s lactose intolerant.”

“You’re kidding.”

Oliver’s brow furrowed. “Why would I be kidding?”

Barry laughed nervously. “This is so weird.”

“You’re a speedster,” Joe turned to him with an incredulous look.

“Still weird. I’m gonna go and pick up Felicity.”

Without anybody having the chance to reply, Barry flashed out of the room with a crackle of yellow lightning, rattling the furniture with the speed he ran out at. The cat immediately screeched, digging her claws into the couch cushions and fur going on end. Chuffing to calm her down, Oliver lifted Cleo back into his embrace and rubbed his cheek against her head.

Sitting down beside the archer, Iris reached over to brush her fingertips over the cat’s pelt. “She’s lovely.”

“She’s a two-year-old Egyptian Mau.” Cleo meowed again, sounding insistent. “And it bears repeating she is very hungry.”

“I think I’ve got some canned tuna somewhere,” Joe said, vanishing into the kitchen.

Caitlin settled down in the armchair opposite the couch, lacing her fingers together. “I’m a little surprised you’re getting along so well with a cat, honestly, considering your dog instincts.”

“Most dogs like cats,” Oliver answered. He clicked his tongue to chide Cleo when she swiped at Iris’ fingers with a faint kiss. “Sorry, Iris, she’s just a bit jumpy after Barry sped out of here.” Cleo pawed at the archer’s chest and then at his stomach, causing him to tense up. “I might have to put her down on the floor in a moment.”

“She can smell the blood, can’t she?” Caitlin asked knowingly. The cat seemed to be nosing at the archer’s shirt over where his now bandaged wound was.

“Yeah,” he sighed.

Joe came back with a small bowl of tuna in hand. Cleo instantly perked up, mewing excitedly as she slunk off Oliver’s lap and the couch to approach Joe. She rubbed up against his shins and purred, almost begging for the food. Joe stroked over her head before placing the bowl on the floor. Diving into it, Cleo began inhaling the fish with gusto, starving since she hadn’t been properly fed for a week.

A weak smile ticked at Oliver’s lips. “She likes you, Detective West. She just said that you’re her favorite human.”

“And what are you?” Joe raised an eyebrow.

Oliver chuffed and the cat responded with a hasty meow and a wave of her tail. Oliver blinked, looking mildly offended. “I’m her favorite dog?” Caitlin couldn’t help it. She snickered. Iris covered her mouth to hide her smile. “At least she likes me.”

“Are you going to take her home to Star City with you?” the doctor asked curiously.

The archer shook his head. “I asked her earlier and she said she would rather stay here, in this neighborhood.”

“Going to be tricky finding her a new home,” Iris murmured. “Unless…” She aimed a hopeful look towards her father. “We don’t have to?”

Joe rolled his eyes. “Should have known as soon as Queen walked in with her that you’d want to keep her.”

“That’s not a no,” Caitlin prompted.

“So… it’s a yes?” Iris grinned

“We’ll talk about it later.”

“Cleo will be happy here,” Oliver said. “Very, very happy.”

“The cat tell you that?” Joe asked sarcastically.

“Yes,” the archer responded shortly, not breaking eye contact with the older man.

Joe looked uncomfortable. “... right.”

The door smashed open, causing everybody in the room to jump all at once. Yellow lightning filled the foyer and eventually died down after a few seconds, revealing Barry with smoking sneakers on his feet and Felicity stumbling beside him. The speedster hurried to support the blonde so she didn’t fall over.

“Some warning would have been nice, Barry!” Felicity said, breathless as she tried to regain her balance.

“Sorry!”

Caitlin quickly glanced over towards Oliver to gauge his reaction at the arrival of his girlfriend. He’d gone completely still, holding himself rigidly as he kept his eyes lowered to the floor. Cleo must have sensed Oliver’s uneasiness, because she meowed in distress and leaped up onto his lap, purring as she butted his chest with her head. Worried about how pale the archer had suddenly become and how his fingers were trembling ever so slightly as he stroked the cat, the doctor stood and squeezed between Oliver and Iris on the larger couch, reaching over to place a hand on his shoulder. She couldn’t do much to help him from now on - it was Oliver’s responsibility to tell Felicity everything that had been going on, not Caitlin’s - but she could try and ground him, so he didn’t slip off into a panic attack before he even got the chance to talk to Felicity.

Cleo’s concerned meows attracted the blonde’s attention, and Caitlin observed silently as Felicity’s eyes fell upon the archer, immediately softening and filling with concern. “Hi, Oliver,” she said gently.

“Hi,” he mumbled.

“Iris and Barry told me you have some things to tell me?”

He jerked his head in a nod.

“You two can go up to my bedroom to talk in private, if you want,” Iris offered.

“Thank you,” Felicity shot her a grateful smile. “Oliver?”

The archer cautiously moved Cleo over from his lap onto Iris’, giving the cat one last scratch under the chin before he trailed behind Felicity up the stairs. He dragged his feet behind him and hung his head as if he was heading to an execution. A ball of writhing anxiety nestled within Caitlin’s chest as she followed them with her gaze. She didn’t know entirely what to expect from this. Oliver had informed the doctor earlier that he was going to be honest and open about everything, but she had the feeling that under pressure, the archer might clam up a bit. Caitlin also suspected that both Oliver and Felicity were going to get upset and perhaps angry at each other. Hopefully, they wouldn’t start shouting. She didn’t want to intervene, but if their discussion started not going well, she would have to attempt to diffuse any tension.

The doctor elected to help Barry, Iris and Joe with the dishes and tidying up the house while they waited. Cleo stretched out on top of the dining table, napping as the humans worked around her. Half an hour passed quickly, but after they finished cleaning up, time seemed to drag out. They ended up fussing over Cleo for another thirty to forty minutes or so, using a laser pointer that Joe found to encourage her to race around the living room. She was adorable and Caitlin was pretty certain that Joe was going to let Iris keep her, just because of how Iris squealed happily when the cat snuggled into her arms for a hug.

By the time Felicity and Oliver came back downstairs, an hour and a half had transcended. Caitlin bit her lip when she noticed that they’d most definitely been crying, their eyes red-rimmed and cheeks flushed. But Oliver looked… at peace. Relieved. As if all the weight had been lifted from his shoulders. It was a good look for him. Caitlin rose from her seat on the couch to go and ask them both if they were alright. but didn’t get the chance to speak, because Felicity rushed over to her and crushed her in a hug.

“We’ll give you the room,” Joe said, pushing Barry out and beckoning Iris to follow. The three members of the West-Allen family filed away out of sight, Cleo balancing on Iris’ shoulders as they left.

Finally happy they were alone and could hold this conversation without fears of anybody listening in, Caitlin cupped Felicity’s face and asked, “You okay?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted.

“I would be worried if you were.” She pulled Felicity back into an embrace

“Thank you so much,” she whispered into the doctor’s ear, tightening her arms around her. “For supporting Oliver, for being so patient with him… for giving him all those tests even though he didn’t tell you anything, for always being there for him as a medical professional as well as a friend. And for reassuring him that I wouldn’t leave him and that it’s okay to be vulnerable and open up. _Thank you_.”

“You’re welcome,” Caitlin smiled.

“Thank you, Caitlin,” Oliver said, from where he was stood just behind Felicity. His voice was slightly hoarse from emotional exhaustion, but it was sincere. “I wouldn’t have been able to tell Felicity without your help.”

“You can always come to me, Oliver,” Caitlin told him, reaching out to clasp and squeeze his hand. “About anything. If you’d like to come back to STAR Labs one day and maybe do a little more testing so you can gain more understanding of what’s going on with you… our doors are always open.”

“Thank you,” Felicity repeated. “Oliver and I, we… we still have a lot to talk about, and we definitely will have to speak with the rest of the team… but honestly, Caitlin, you’ve put us on the right track, and I could not be more grateful.”

The doctor nodded, turning to the archer to question, “Feel better?”

“Loads,” he admitted.

“No more…” She motioned down at her stomach.

“Hopefully not,” he said. “Now I know what’s going on… and I have Felicity to support me and talk to this about, hopefully not.”

“Good,” Caitlin exhaled in relief.

“I’ve still got a long way to go,” Oliver sighed.

“But you’ve made a start,” the doctor said. “You’ve taken the first couple of steps, Oliver. Reaching out for help from a medical professional and telling your loved ones are always the hardest parts. But you’re _trying_. That’s what’s important.”

“Yes,” Felicity agreed. “We’re going to make adjustments at home and in the bunker that might help… now that I know, I can try and help him more.” She smiled at the archer tenderly. “He knows he needs to accept help now.”

“Including the help of a therapist?” Caitlin asked, shooting him a pointed look.

Oliver scratched the back of his neck. “I’m going to get in contact with Lyla and talk to her about getting a new one. Felicity has agreed to help me vet them.”

“And you’re actually going to attend the sessions?”

“I want to get better,” he mumbled, looking down at his hands. “I’ve tried everything except therapy… nothing else has worked, so I might as well _try_ …”

“Great.” Caitlin shuffled backward so she could reach into her bag, pulling out the envelope that had been stuffed into it for several weeks now as she waited for the right time to hand it over. “Then when you meet your therapist, you can give them this.”

Taking the envelope hesitantly, the archer glanced over it for a second before passing it over to Felicity, who examined it inquisitively. “What is it?”

“A letter from your personal doctor advising the prescription of Zoloft to treat PTSD and depression,” Caitlin told him calmly. “But I’d rather have a trained psychiatrist’s opinion first before I start you off on a treatment plan.”

“You’re serious,” Felicity realized, looking up at her with a curious expression.

“Completely,” the doctor crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ve also written a short paragraph about how I think Oliver should go for a CBT assessment, but that’s up to his therapist, really.” Seeing how the archer was gazing at her strangely, she continued, “You’re reaching out for help from Felicity and me, and that’s good. You’ll go and see a therapist and perhaps begin addressing issues that have been plaguing you. But your current mindset… your constant depressed emotional state and how you think about yourself… it isn’t healthy. And I don’t think that’s something that talking to us or to a therapist is going to fix. Medication paired with CBT has proven to decrease severe depression and anxiety of patients. I would recommend it - and if your therapist recommends it too, that’s the way you need to go.”

Oliver stared at her, seemingly overwhelmed by everything she’d just said. But Felicity leaned over and said in a genuine tone, “We’ll take that into consideration, thank you, Caitlin. We should probably tell Iris, Barry and Joe it’s alright to come back in.”

“They’ve been listening at the door the whole time,” Oliver said.

A crash and the sound of harsh whispers from the other side of the house told Caitlin that the archer was not exactly wrong. She watched in amusement as the West-Allen family emerged from their hiding place, sporting guilty looks. The Mau leaped down from her perch on Iris’ shoulders to brush up against Oliver’s legs until he picked her up. Felicity immediately began stroking the cat, beaming with delight as Cleo purred, ears flicking in pleasure.

“We weren’t listening the _whole_ time,” Barry muttered defensively.

“I could hear you all breathing,” the archer said, tone flat.

Felicity quirked an eyebrow. “You can do that?”

Cleo meowed in Oliver’s arms. He laughed quietly. “Cleo says that you all breathe as loud as her mother did - and she had asthma.”

His girlfriend paused in tickling the cat’s belly. “You weren’t kidding about the talking to animals thing.”

“No.”

“You two need a lift home?” Barry questioned, pulling a new pair of sneakers.

“Not saying that you have to leave,” Iris added hurriedly.

“If you two need a place to crash for tonight, we can set you up,” Joe nodded.

“It’s fine,” Oliver said with a small smile. “We probably should be getting home. Thank you for dinner, Detective… and for adopting Cleo and letting Felicity and I talk alone upstairs.”

“Hey, nobody said anything about adopting the cat!”

Cleo meowed from Iris’ lap.

Oliver’s smile widened. “She did.”

“You don’t adopt a cat, Dad,” Iris said. “A cat adopts you.”

“And Cleo has definitely adopted Iris.”

They said their goodbyes, hugs all around. Oliver made sure to give an extra special goodbye to Cleo, a deep resounding rumble escaping his throat as he cuddled the cat, before passing her back over to Iris. Caitlin tried not to tear up as she embraced Oliver, but several did manage to slip through. She was so proud of him for being able to open up to Felicity. After months of agonizing over Oliver’s health, finally understanding what was going on with him and being able to help him was incredible. Felicity thanked her again and the doctor assured her that she could call anytime.

Barry whisked the archer and his girlfriend away. Running a hand through her hair, Caitlin collapsed down onto the couch, stroking over Cleo’s back as she rested her head on the cushions, satisfied.

A doctor’s work was never truly completed until their patient was healthy and happy.

Oliver wasn’t entirely both of those yet… but his mental health was improving. He felt more secure in his relationship with Felicity, and most importantly, more secure in his own physical body, now he understood what was happening with it. He was going to try therapy, and possibly CBT and antidepressants in the future. He _wanted_ to get better, and he was going to actively try to.

As far as Caitlin was concerned… for now, her work was done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave kudos and comment below :)
> 
> Tumblr: @alexiablackbriar13  
> Twitter: @lexiblackbriar

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave kudos and comment, feel free to ask questions or make a small request :) I might be able to fit it in if I can!
> 
> Tumblr: @alexiablackbriar13  
> Twitter: @lexiblackbriar


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